Mendol Ikemen Idol!
by immo
Summary: AKB48 A re-imagining of the show Mendol: Ikemen Idol. Riku, Kai, Kuu / Asahi, Nami, Hinata doing what they do best! Various AKB48 girls WILL be making guest appearances :D COMPLETED
1. Chapter 1

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 1

author's note: Watch this series. It's pretty bad, but it's also so damn good. hahahah. This is my re-imagining of the series with extra scenes and shenanigans. And just want people to know that I'm gonna be using my creative license freely. You have been warned. Oh, and a big thank you to mysoju, tranquilsprings and subbers who decided to undertake the mendol project. :D Without the subs, I would not be writing this... so you can either regret subbing it or pat yourself on the back hahaha.

extra language note: I kept some Japanese in this fic cuz it doesn't translate so well into English...

shachou -- president

onee-chan -- older sister

yoroshiku onegaishimasu -- please take care of me

samui -- cold

denpa -- electro-magnetic wave

---

I want to be an idol!

That was the thought that was pulsating through all the minds of the girls in the room.

I want to be an idol!

However, that phrase rung with a certain desperation in one girl's head. Decked in her school uniform, Wakamatsu Asahi had auditioned more times than she could remember and had failed each and every time. While most people would have given up after the third time, Wakamatsu Asahi was absolutely determined to be an ido even after failing again and again.

This had been her dream, ever since she was young. She wanted to be in the spotlight, not because she wanted fame or money (though those were pretty good reasons too), but because she wanted to make people happy. All of this, this dream of being an idol, stemmed from an experience Asahi had had when she was just a little girl.

When she was young, her and her family had gone to Osaka to visit some relatives and she had gotten lost in the hustle and bustle of Osaka station. Being young and alone had been terrifying and Asahi had wandered around, sobbing and calling for her parents.

All of a sudden, THEY had appeared.

Just a group of musicians promoting their music near the train station, making use of some of the stairs nearby as a makeshift stage, singing their songs in acapella. One of the girls of the group had seen her, walked forward and plucked Asahi out of the crowd that was threatening to engulf her. Trying to cheer up tiny Asahi, this woman had given her a tambourine while one of the guys in this troupe lifted her up on to his shoulder, asking her what her name was.

Soon, the entire group was belting out her name in tune with the music and asking her parents to 'please come find their adorable Asahi-chan'. Her parents who had been half-crazed with worry at losing her, heard the song and had come rushing to find her giggling breathlessly at the funny faces the man who was carrying her was pulling. While her parents tearfully thanked the group over and over, the woman who had saved Asahi from the crowd had bent down to wink at the young child.

"Thank you, onee-san." Asahi had thanked the woman shyly.

"Not scared anymore?" The beautiful woman teased softly, her warm brown eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Noooo..." Asahi puffed up indignantly, not wanting her parents to know she had been crying.

"Well," The man who had been holding her knelt down so he was eye-level with Asahi. "Did you have fun?"

"Yup!" Asahi grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

"Good, good." He beamed at her and nodded, rubbing the top of Asahi's head. "That's our job as idols. To make sure you're happy when you're sad."

Wakamatsu Asahi had decided then and there, that she was going to be like these people, these idols. She was going to be an idol, to make people happy! And the effects of singers, actors, musicians--idols, all of them--had been a continual one. Whenever she was sad, whenever she was unhappy, it was the songs, the drama, the charisma of idols that put a smile on her face. But it was that little group that had made such a huge impact on her. Even though the faces of her saviours that day had faded away to nothing in her memory, she remembered the comfort and joy they provided her in that one moment of mind-numbing childish terror.

"Next!"

Asahi blinked, shocked out of her memory, her nerves overwhelming her again. But she could do this! She could! She just had to put her best foot forward and she was sure one of these producer-types would see her potential!

She just needed a chance.

"I'm number seven, Wakamatsu Asahi." She gave a brilliant, confident smile. "Yumeoka Public School, third year. In the future, I want to be an idol, just like Ray-san!"

Ray was at the top of the charts right now, one of the most charismatic songstresses of her time. Asahi always strived to be like the idols at the top, because that was where the most hard-working, the most dedicated, the most-talented idol of the time was and that was where Asahi wanted to be!

"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" Asahi gave another bright smile, her heart hammering in her chest. She'd done this SO many times before, this HAD to be the time when all the auditioning paid off and they at least gave her a chance to--

"Hm." The sleazy looking man in the sunglasses (why was he wearing sunglasses indoors? Who did he think he was?), sneered a little bit and turned to speak to one of the people sitting with him. "Reminds me of my kid back home."

"Right. Next!"

All the hope she had, of this being the audition where they would finally SEE what she could offer to the world, dashed to the ground. Pouting slightly, she walked back to her seat. It was sad, but she was used to disappointment by now. The first time she had been rejected at an audition, she had held in her tears until she could leave the audition room, then walked as nonchalantly as she could to the washroom and cried her heart out. But that was in the past! She wouldn't let minor hurdles get in her way! She would persevere!

"Number eight, Kawachi Nami." The girl named Nami introduced herself casually, her whole body radiating nervous energy, as if she was more used to being in constant motion than standing still. Some of her brown hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and held in place with a yellow scrunchy. "I'm currently working part-time at a convenience store, but I wanna be a singer! I like to be noisy, seriously!"

Her voice was a pleasant alto, but coupled with the ridiculousness of her statement, Asahi feel embarassed for the girl.

"Baaaka." Asahi muttered under her breath as several other girls waiting in the room voiced the same thing. This girl was a bit of an idiot, but Asahi could see that Nami honestly wanted to impress the producers and hoped that this girl would at least get one favorable mention for her enthusiasm...

"Totally NOT sexy at all!" The sleazy man curled up his lip in disgust.

'Well, you're one to talk.' Asahi thought viciously at the sleazy producer, feeling sorry for the boisterous girl. Nami went back to her seat, looking slightly deflated and angry. The next girl, though, caught everybody's attention.

But not in a good way.

"I'm number nine, attending Shirobara Girls' Academy, third year, Otawa Hinata!" It wasn't her perky voice that caught people's attention, nor her big round eyes. It was just an aura of... something that came off the girl.

"My dream," Hinata pressed a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "Is to be an angel on Earth!"

"An angel on earth?" Asahi gaped.

"Samui!" Sitting next to each other, Asahi and Nami got a full case of the shivers, like the shivers one gets from nails screeching down a blackboard. Then, Otawa Hinata proceeded to do her tenshi dance.

"Ten-ten-tenshi, tenshi, yo!" It was like feedback from a microphone that was too close to the speaker. All the auditioners cringed, squeezed their eyes shut and covered their ears. So it went unnoticed to them as they were trying to block out the ten-ten-ing, that the sleazy producer was the only one who didn't seem affected by Hinata. In fact, he seemed disturbingly interested in her...

After everybody had auditioned, the producers had a small discussion amongst themselves. All the girls who had auditioned were on the edge of their seats, most notably Asahi, Nami and Hinata.

"Well then... I'm gonna announce the applicants who were successful today." The man announcing the results of the audition kept his eyes studiously on the clipboard he was holding. "Okay, today's successful applicants are..."

Everyone waited with bated breaths.

"No-one!"

---

Asahi let out a huge, weary sigh, day planner in hand as she counted out how many times she had auditioned.

"Forty-nine applications, forty-nine unsuccessful, huh... the next application will be... the fiftieth one?!"

"Seriously?!" A hand spun her around and she was faced with the energetic Kawachi Nami and her gleeful expression. "During the audition, you didn't look THAT bad."

Asahi clutched her day planner to her chest not liking how Nami was looking so incredibly happy at the fact that Asahi had failed AGAIN.

"But this is great!" Nami clenched her hands into fists, raising them slightly in relief and triumph. "There's someone who's worse off than me! And this is only my 38th time!"

Asahi spun on the shorter woman, indignant. "That's nothing to be proud of, is it?"

"Hinata has over a hundred times!" A cheery voice exclaimed.

"SERIOUSLY?!" Nami and Asahi both turned to gape at the owner of the voice, then immediately pointed at the pink-clad woman, screaming their surprise. "AHHH! Denpa!"

"Denpa?" Hinata tilted her head to the side, confused.

Nami pulled a face. "You frequently release electric waves, don't you?"

Nami and Asahi looked at each other and as if on cue, they did Hinata's tenshi dance. "Ten-ten-tenshi, tenshi, yo!"

Hinata smiled, confused. Electric waves? What was wrong with her tenshi dance?

"The two of you are in grade twelve, right?" Nami directed their conversation back on track: their auditions. "Which means that you're 18 years old, right? That's kinda really late to debut, right?"

Even though Asahi was pretty sure that this short girl hadn't meant to make her feel bad, what she said sent a cold knife through her chest. Nami continued talking, not noticing the affect she had on Asahi.

"Recently, elementary school students, no, even kindergarten students are participating in idol competitions!" Nami was on a roll and it was hard for her to stop. It was like... an inevitable car crash. Nami was at the wheel and Asahi was the proverbial car's victim. However, Nami's morbid speel was interrupted by Hinata's peppy voice.

"Then the three of us are the 'long-overdue comrades'!" Hinata grinned, pulling at Asahi's arm and bringing the two of them closer to Nami. "We'll audition together until we're finally discovered!"

Her enthusiasm was pretty infectious. "Ten-ten-tenshi, tenshi, yo! Come on, do it with me!"

Nami and Asahi had been feeling pretty down at being rejected again, but seeing this girl who had failed her auditions more than a hundred times... they felt slightly embarassed at their own discouragement.

"Ten-ten-tenshi, tenshi, yo!" The three chanted together while trying to find their way out of the underground parking lot. The sudden chirping noise from Hinata's cellphone stopped their little group chant, though.

Moshi-moshi, this is Hinata... Really?... okay!" Hinata hung up on the caller then turned around to face her two companions with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry! Hinata's not a comrade anymore!"

"Eh?" Nami and Asahi gaped at Hinata. No way!

"The producer called me just now," Hinata bubbled excitedly. "and told me he has something to tell me tonight! Seeya!"

And with that, the little pink tornado swept out of there, leaving as abruptly as she had arrived.

"Traitor!" Nami kicked out half-heartedly, though she felt kind of good for the girl. After a hundred auditions? Why, what kind of person would Nami be if she didn't feel at least a little bit happy for the denpa?

"Ah!"

Asahi's little scream of delight caught Nami's attention. There was something on the ground and Asahi crouched down to pick it up.

"What is it?"

"It's a purupuru!" Asahi clutched at the toy and pressed it against her face. "It feels goooooood!"

'Is she an idiot?' Nami wondered. 'Who picks things off the ground and presses it against their face?'

Asahi, meanwhile, was just rejoicing. She had found it! This toy, a limited edition purupuru! At one of Ray-san's press conferences, this toy had been released to the press as a thank you for their continued support. Asahi had tried going online to buy the toy but either nobody was willing to part with it, or the toys' price had been knocked sky-high by people trying to outbid each other.

The two girls were suddenly blinded by the headlights of a car that stopped right in front of them. The sound of people filing out was all they heard as the two girls tried to blink the spots out of their eyes. The light went away when the three men who had been inside the car loomed in front of them, their suited bodies casting long shadows.

"Give that to me." The man in the grey suit and sunglasses, with hair slicked back and shiny patent leather shoes pointed at the purupuru in Asahi's hands. He seemed to be the leader this small group. Asahi immediately bristled at the tone. No way was she going to lose this purupuru to some otaku!

"Finder's keepers!" Asahi pouted, not wanting to give up her new-found toy. Wthout even a warning, the man pulled out a gun and pointed it at Asahi's head threateningly. "Eh?"

They stood like that, frozen for a few long seconds, Asahi staring down into the muzzle of the gun. Just when Asahi was going through her flight-or-fight choice, Nami's voice cut through the fear that was starting to take over Asahi. "Ah! I know! You're filming a scene, right?"

"Ah, you're right!" Asahi laughed, feeling the tension go out of her shoulders. Really, who in Japan owned a gun except the yakuza? And even though this man looked the part--he looked TOO in character. It *must* be a costume!

"If not, he wouldn't be staring at us like a snake, right?" Nami said cheerfully, eyes bright with excitement. "Where's the camera?"

Asahi started casting around desperately for a camera. Maybe they were on a reality show! Maybe they could get discovered that way! She had to make sure the camera was filming her more photogenic side!

"Is it here?" Nami poked her finger into the gun's muzzle cheerfully. She loved reality shows! There was always that one person who was an idiot and didn't figure out the joke was on them, but not Nami! The audience would love her for being so quick on her feet--

The snakeman jerked his arm back and fired the gun into the air. Both girls screamed in fear and jumped into each other's arms as an airduct started spraying out steam from the ceiling and creating a hot steam wall between them and the men.

"RUN AWAY!" Asahi grabbed hold of Nami's hand and ran back in the direction of the studio.

"What the hell was that?" Nami screamed as they raced back into the studio. The sound of pursuing footsteps and a quick glance behind them confirmed that they were being chased by the strange men, though thankfully, the gun had been put away so they would be less conspicuous inside the studio. But it was no less scary.

"AHHHH!" The girls screamed, Nami cast around desperately for a way out. Spotting a door leading to a stairwell, she pulled Asahi inside with her.

"GO GO GO GO GO!" Nami squealed as she pushed Asahi ahead of her. The loud bang of the stairwell door bursting open told them their pursuers were hot on their heels.

"Who are they? Why do they have guns?!" Asahi raced up the stairs, two at a time. Despite Nami's short legs, she too, scaled the stairs faster than expected.

"How do I know? They're not filming or anything!" Nami babbled, wheezing a little bit at the pace they were going. Bursting through the third floor door, they looked up and down the crowded halls frantically, then set off in a random direction, heedless of the people they were bumping in to.

"Scuze me! Sorry! Coming through!" Ducking aside into a slightly quieter hall, they yanked open a door and slipped into this dark storage room before closing the door as quietly as they could behind them. Not a second later, they heard two men cursing profusely as they raced past their door.

Trying hard to keep as quiet as they could while catching their breaths, the two girls froze at the sound of a woman's voice. Ducking down behind a bunch of chairs and tables stacked near the door, the girls peered over them curiously to see two women arguing with each other. There was one with black hair cut at some very sharp angles; she had a look on her face that was equal parts smug and unapologetic. The other woman with lighter, slightly wavy hair seemed furious and whom she was angry at was made very clear when her hand shot out and smacked the dark-haired woman across the face.

"Tell me, which woman were you with yesterday?" The hurt was apparent in her eyes though the wronged party held on to her anger tightly. Nami and Asahi both felt their jaws hit their chest as the dark-haired woman, instead of answering, darted forward to claim the other woman's mouth in a passionate kiss. Their tongues twisted and danced with one another's wetly, their loud and laboured breathing echoed in the empty storage room. When they at last parted, mouths bruised from the ferociousness of their make-out session, the anger seemed to have completely gone from the lighter-haired woman.

"Are you jealous?" the dark-haired woman cooed.

"Wha... whatever you say..." all the fight seemed to have gone out of the brown-haired woman.

"Oh? Well then... one more time?"

This time, the make-out session got a little bit heavy as the dark-haired woman pushed the other one back until their backwards motion was stopped by a desk. The light-haired woman was pushed on top of it, the blazer she was wearing slipping from her shoulders and a black-gloved hand moving down the light-haired woman's body slowly to palm and knead her thigh...

"Marilyn... so cute..." The dark-haired woman groaned, sucking on her partner's neck.

Asahi watched in a mixture of fascination and shock, unsure of what to do. Nami, however, was trying to fight down the violent disgust she felt at the sight of the two women kissing each other.

"Uwaaaahhh!" Nami backed away, groping backwards blindly. In doing so, she managed to knock down a whole stack of chairs and a desk. The two women, who had thought they were alone, immediately caught sight of the two girls.

"Uh..." Asahi gave a super polite bow, not really sure if what she was doing was the right reaction to circumstances like this. "Sorry for disturbing you two! Um, please continue!"

Nami also flashed a fake smile, nodding in agreement with Asahi's reaction, before the two fled the little storage room. Rushing into a room marked 'Changing Room 2', they found themselves amidst racks and racks of various clothes, costumes, footwear, headgear and accessories.

"That was a live action L show just now!" Nami exclaimed, disgust still etched in her face.

"What's 'L'?" Asahi blinked, confusion apparent on her face.

"Don't you know?" Nami gaped at the innocence her companion showed and took it upon herself to enlighten the other girl. "The world of L, females kissing... and making love to each other... it's just so sickening!"

Nami shivered and rubbed her arms furiously, feeling a full case of the heebie-jeebies.

"Lets not talk about that," Asahi sighed in frustration, annoyed that the other girl could get side-tracked by kissing women so easily. "We better concentrate on how to escape from those guys! How did we even get involved in this? I seriously don't understand!"

Those men were probably combing the building looking for them so they couldn't possibly leave this room and looking at her cellphone, she realized calling the police wasn't even an option since she had no reception! What could she do? Asahi leaned against a rack of costumes when it suddenly dawned on her. Throwing her bag to the ground, she kicked off her shoes and started taking off her school uniform. Turning, she could see Nami watching her, bug-eyed.

"You have to take off your clothes too!" Asahi reached for Nami's shirt to help the shell-shocked girl, but Nami pushed her away, horrified.

"What are you doing?! Don't tell me you wanna--"

"Stupid!" Asahi barked out. Seriously, this girl was so stuck on the L thing! "We're going to disguise ourselves!"

"Eh?" Nami blinked stupidly then took a look around. Realization dawned on her face. "OH!"

Without another word, the two stripped out of their clothing and picked matching outfits. Hiding their hair underneath a toque and donning baggy jeans, sunglasses that covered most of their face, boots, a loose tee, clunky silver accessories and a faux-leather jacket, they checked each other's appearances before opening the door to the changeroom and peeking out.

Seeing that the coast was clear, Asahi took the lead. "Let's go!"

Walking down the crowded hallways, pretending to look like they had business there, was nerve-wracking. There was a whole bunch of girls mingling around and it seemed like they were all staring at them.

"Shitshitshitshit!" Nami swore under her breath. "What are we gonna do?! Our disguises suck! They probably know we're girls dressed as guys!"

"Calm down!" Asahi whispered back frantically. "They don't know that! They don't!"

"Hey," A girl in a bunny suit called out to them. They stiffened and turned towards her, a smile frozen on their face. the bunny-girl's friends pushed their blushing representative forward, giggling. "Um, are you guys lost? Could we help you?"

"Uh, no..." Realization dawned on Asahi. She had seen girls act like this before. She knew because she had acted like this before in front of cute guys. Oh my god, they thought she, Wakamatsu Asahi, WAS the cute guy! Nami seemed to realize the same thing and was about to give a--probaby rude--retort when she caught sight of something over Asahi's shoulder and a look of panic crossed her face. Nami turned to face the bunny-girl, leaning against one of the walls to try and look cool.

"Yeaaahhh... we're a bit lost." Nami drawled, trying to deepen her voice without sounding ridiculous. "Ahem. Uh, we were just wondering if you girls could, uh, take us to the... uh..."

Asahi glanced behind her shoulder, wondering what had freaked Nami out. The sight of their pursuers sent her to the side of the one of the bunny-girl's friends, who was decked out as a cheerleader.

"Auditions! The men's auditions! Yeah, uh," Asahi coughed, deepening her voice too. Putting an arm awkwardly around the cheerleader's shoulders, she grimaced when she felt the girl swoon a little bit. This was so not how she pictured today going. "Could you? This studio is kinda big."

With two girls on their arms and the rest of bunny-girl's friends following them, they passed the men in dark suits--who gave only a cursory glance at the girls surrounding Asahi and Nami--then continued off.

"Safe!" Nami breathed out.

"Did you say something?" the bunny-girl smiled prettily at Nami and the girl-disguised-as-a-guy shuddered at the sight of bunny-girl batting her eyelashes at her.

Asahi quickly tried to cover for her comrade. "Uh, he meant, 'safe', cuz we won't be late for our audition cuz of you girls, right?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Nami nodded enthusiastically and gave Asahi a thumbs-up. "Good cover-up!"

"Cover up?" the girls looked at Nami curiously again.

"Look, here we are!" Nami pointed to a sign on a big set of double doors that said 'auditions - men', happy to distract the girls away from her 'cover up' slip. "Well, it was nice meeting you girls butwehavetogetgoingnowbye!"

"Bye!" The girls waved goodbye, looking seriously disappointed. "Come find us afterwards, ok?"

"Yeah, sure!" Nami gave them a big fake grin, her dimples coming in to play. The girls sighed or squealed in pleasure, startling Nami, who jumped behind Asahi to hide from their love-stricken stares.

"Uh, thanks girls." Asahi gave them a tiny wave and a small smile. The girls gave the same reaction to Asahi as they did to Nami and Asahi found herself so startled by their blatant admiration that she stumbled backwards right into Nami and through the doors to the men's auditions. Girls were damn scary! And Asahi was about to say that aloud when bright lights suddenly blinded them.

"We're starting! Please get in line!" A voice, made loud through a megaphone, crackled.

"What the--" A group of guys who were dressed quite similar to the two girls ran right into them, pushing them right into the area where the guys were lining up to begin dancing while cameras filmed them, probably for a screen test. Asahi and Nami were pushed right in front of the camera as the guys all danced an obviously pre-rehearsed dance.

"Woah." Nami and Asahi watched the guys going through the simple repetitive choreography, unconsciously memorizing the footwork and dance moves as they stood a little bit off to the side. Asahi looked around the room, feeling slightly embarassed that they had crashed an audition--but the embarassment turned to panic again when she saw the man who had pulled the gun on them, lurking behind the cameras and looking around for them.

"Dance!" Asahi pushed Nami towards the middle of the group of guys.

Nami looked bewildered. "Eh?"

"Those guys are here!" hissed Asahi. Nami caught sight of them and ran into the middle of the group, both of them hoping they would be indistinguishable from the dancing guys. It only took them half a beat to fall into step with the rest of the dancers and they put their all into it, desperately. Their efforts didn't go unnoticed as the producer in charge of the set and his guest noticed them right away.

"Ara ara," The producer smiled a bit, looking at the two in the back. "And here I thought they couldn't dance! They're pretty good!"

The woman in all black with her black hair cut at sharp angles had her eyes locked on the two figures, a small smile pulling up one corner of her lips. Their view of the dancers was momentarily ruined though, by three men in dark suits who walked across the set, ignoring the rolling cameras and the cries of dismay from the crew.

"Hey!" The producer left his guest's side, shouting at the intruders. "Who are you people and why are you on my set?!"

At the distraction, Asahi pulled Nami away and they ran off in the opposite direction of the men in suits. The producer, however, caught sight of the two running for it and immediately gave chase after the promising young 'men'.

"Hey, wait! Please, don't go, wait just a moment--" He went flying as the dark-haired woman pushed him away in her bid to chase down the two disguised girls. Asahi and Nami, meanwhile, had run off to an empty set, slowing when they saw that no-one was following them. Their relief was short-lived though, when a voice called to them from the shadows of the opposite end of the room.

"Excuse me." They froze and turned around, seeing the snake-guy walking towards them with his two lackeys right behind him. "Have you seen two high school girls?"

Struck speechless with fear, they could only keep their eyes on the floor and stay silent, sure that he would be able to tell they were girls as soon as he got a closer look at them or heard them speak.

"I've seen them." A voice rang out. Spinning around, Asahi and Nami immediately recognized the woman they had accidentally spied on in the storage room.

"L!" Nami exclaimed. Asahi immediately clamped her hand over Nami's mouth, hoping to god that this woman wouldn't give up their identities to these men. Although their disguise had fooled the girls from before, Asahi got the impression from this dark-haired woman that she was absolutely NOT fooled. The mischievous smile on her face while the 'L' woman pranced over filled Asahi with dread and anxiety.

"They went that way." The unexpected reply unleashed a flood of relief in the two disguised girls as the snake-guy offered a curt 'excuse me', and he and his men were gone without a second glance at Asahi or Nami.

"Ah, we're saved!" Nami let out an explosive sigh of relief as soon as the men had left.

Asahi was relieved and grateful at being delivered from the gun-wielding men and bowed politely to the black-haired woman. "Thank you very much!"

Instead of answering, the woman walked forward and took off both their toques and their sunglasses, allowing their long hair and feminine features to be seen.

"As I thought," The woman was talking to herself and seemed extremely excited, ignoring Asahi's expression of gratitude. "This is great!"

Before either of them could ask the strange woman what she meant, her eyes focused on the two girls in front of them and she clapped them on the shoulders soundly. "Do the two of you want to be idols?"

"Idols?!"

---

Asahi and Nami had been whisked away in a van with tinted windows, to a charming house that served as both an office and living quarters. They were seated on a beautiful white chaise where two pens and two contracts had immediately been placed on the coffee table in front of them.

"Here you go," The dark-haired woman outlined the dotted line on both contracts with her hand. "You have to sign here."

Everything was coming together for Asahi and Nami! The two girls who had gone to collectively eighty-seven auditions, were finally seeing the fruits of their labours. Their eagerness to achieve their dreams was no excuse, however, for them not reading the contract as they gave a happy affirmative and signed away.

"Here!" They both handed the contract back to the dark-haired woman, who gave them a pleased smile as the contracts were placed in her hands.

"Congratulations. From now on, the both of you are members of Kamonohatsu Entertainment Agency. I'm the agency's president, Kamonohatsu Saeko." The dark-haired woman finally had a name. Motioning to the bubbly woman beside her, Saeko continued speaking. "This is my secretary--"

"I'm Marilyn!" The light-haired woman waved, her sunny personality bubbling to the surface.

"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" Asahi and Nami both stood up and bowed super-politely, retreated into the prescribed formalities assigned to them by their society. They were just so excited! And Nami, hyperactive with happiness turned to Asahi and grasped the other girl's hand.

"Finally, we can be idols now!" Nami was jumping up and down in excitement and Asahi joined in with her, close to tears.

"Finally, our dreams have been fulfilled!"

While they were squealing excitedly, Marilyn had leaned in to look them over with fascination. "The both of you are exactly what the shachou is looking for to fit the Ikemen image!"

"Really?" Nami was ecstatic that they fit the mold the president was looking for! "Exactly like an ikemen--eh?"

Both Asahi and Nami's excitement was put on hold by their... confusion. Ikemen? Good-looking guy? Was there some mistake?

"Ike...men?"

Kamonohatsu Saeko smirked and brandished the contracts that they had signed so the two girls could read the script that they had ignored before.

"Debuting as a..." Both girls read the line out lout. "male idol?"

"What is this?" Nami demanded. Saeko just threw back her head and laughed, a truly evil kind of laughter that made both girls shiver. Saeko passed the contracts to her secretary and rounded on the two newly made idols.

"This is me, Kamonohatsu Saeko's bet on a wild ambitious start!" Saeko raised her hand in the air, full of confidence.

"Shachou, you're wonderful!" Marilyn cooed at her beloved president with adoring eyes.  
"My ambition is to introduce the most ikemen idols to the public, and thus, raise the entertainment world to a whole new level!" Saeko explained, going from slightly frenzied to drastically calm in the next sentence. "However, I haven't found any suitable males who matched my requirements for the past few years."

The level of excitement raised again as Saeko focused on Asahi and Nami. "When I first saw the two of you--" Saeko mimed being shot. "It was like being shot. If males are no good, then we'll use females, females disguised as males, to unify the entertainment industry!"

The same sentence was running through Nami and Asahi's head at this point. 'She's crazy.'

"Why do I have to become a guy?" Nami argued, still not quite believing that this was happening to her.

"That's right," Asahi frowned. "I want to be a normal idol!"

"Ordinary." The president of Kamonohatsu Entertainment Agency said in a bored voice.

"Ordinary?" Asahi and Nami gaped at the president.

"I dare and am quite positive to say that the two of you are absolutely ordinary." Saeko deadpanned. Marilyn gave a little giggle at that pronouncement. "People like the two of you have only one route in the entertainment industry..." Saeko paused while the girls leaned in, eager to learn what route this was. "..and that is to become men. If the two of you, who are VERY ordinary girls become men, then the two of you will become the very best!"

Saeko reached up and pulled a rope attached to the ceiling. Immediately, a white screen with two head-shaped holes unfurled from the ceiling right in front of the started Asahi and Nami. Well, white sheet from the girls' vantage points. As they poked their heads out of the holes, they realized it was a drawing of two men's bodies in suits, with the face part cut out so when Nami and Asahi looked through the holes, they looked like they had men's bodies!

"I can see it!" Saeko came forward, eyes agleam. "The light of the future! From now on, you will be Riku" Saeko pointed at Asahi then at Nami. "--and Kai! Your group name will be Persona! The meaning will literally mean that the sky's wearing a mask!"

"Persona?" Asahi frowned.

"Mask?" Nami joined Asahi in the frowning.

"Females disguising themselves in the masks of men!" Saeko continued, unperturbed by their lack of enthusiasm. She pranced over to a mannequin she had in the corner and removed the mask it had been wearing, placing it over her own face. "I'm such a genius!"

Asahi and Nami just stared at Saeko in disbelief as the president started hyperventilating from how excited she was getting.

"Shachou, don't get so worked up!" Marilyn fretted, immediately at her president's side with a paper bag. Nami took this opportunity to brush the giant screen away and confront the L's.

"You've gotta be joking!" Nami growled angrily. "Regarding this, we will definitely--"

"Do it!" Asahi was at Nami's side in a second and interrupted her.

"That's right! We'll definitely do it!" Nami said angrily. It took a second for what Asahi said to sink in. "Eh?"

"Please, you've got to let me do it!" Asahi continued, a little bit of desperation creeping in to her voice.

"Eh?!" Nami gaped at Asahi. What the hell was her 'long-overdue comrade' doing?!

Marilyn and the president exchanged a glance and Saeko murmurred to her secretary, "Surprisingly, this is going smoother than I expected."

Marilyn took everything in stride though. She knew her shachou could do it! Saeko was incredibly resourceful when she wanted to be, just one of the many things that Marilyn admired about the other woman! One of the MANY things.

"Well then, let me give you a tour of the house!" Marilyn bounced over to the office. "This is the office," Marilyn skipped back out. "We're in the living room right now..." The two girls followed her to a door next to the door to the office. "The kitchen, the closet, the washroom, the front foyer! Now lets go upstairs!"

Nami was swept up in the whirlwind known as Marilyn, unable to get a word in edge-wise. Soon, they were pushed into a relatively large room that seemed a little bit crowded because of the furniture in the room. It was comfortable though and brightly lit.

"This will be your room!" Marilyn flung her arms out proudly. She had decorated this room herself! Two mattresses and bedsets on the floor told the girls where they were expected to sleep. It was all a little too much for Nami. "Even though you two are women, no-one will know! From now on, the two of you will be living here!"

"Don't worry," Saeko said soothingly to the two girls. "I'll contact both of your parents. I'll say, for the sake of learning the arts, the both of you are studying abroad in Las Vegas!"

"Like our parents would believe that..." Nami groaned as Saeko swept out of the room.

"Unless they're very stupid parents." Asahi commented thinking of her own parents. Nami realized that her own parents would probably fit under that description too. Mama and Papa Kawachi also had a large brood of children, of which Nami was one of them, so it was hard to keep track of everyone. They would be happy that someone had taken their most energetic child, under their wing.

"The basic things you need have been prepared, feel free to use them!" Marilyn poked them in the middle of their foreheads, then bounced out of the room giddily, happy that they had people signed on at the agency.

"Geez, I hope that there aren't any problems with this agency." Nami spoke her fears aloud, never one to keep quiet when things bothered her, regardless of the fact that what said could offend people or make them unhappy. "That assistant's kinda odd. And now, it's like there's only the two of us." Nami shivered and raised her hands up in the air in anguish. "On top of that, the president's an 'L' and we have to debut disguised as men..."

The energetic girl fell bonelessly to one of the mattresses on the floor, sprawling face-down on the sheets, exhuasted by the day's events.

"Debuting disguised as men, huh?" Asahi rolled the idea around in her head. For some odd reason, she didn't have as much of a problem with it as Nami seemed to.

"Ah yes," Nami suddenly perked up, lifting her face from the comforter. "I almost forgot about it. We haven't called the police yet 'bout that snakeguy!"

The pursuit by the men in suits came back to Asahi. The long-haired girl took out the purupuru from her bag and wondered why grown men were willing to shoot at girls just to get a purupuru. The sound of Nami dialing the number for the police pulled Asahi out of her thoughts and she dived for Nami's phone, closing the flip-phone and ending the call.

"Don't call the police!" Asahi could hear Saeko's voice in her head, telling her and Nami that the only route the two of them could take to become idols was to disguise themselves as men.

"Why not?" Nami tried to grab her phone back. "We could be in danger!"

"In the future, we'll be performing in our disguises," Asahi explained. "So we shouldn't get involved in this."

"But those guys have guns!" Nami protested. Guns! And Nami had stuck her finger in the muzzle thinking it was a camera!

"Don't do it if you're just going to stir up trouble!" Asahi was close to snapping at the other girl. "I'm betting on this chance. I'm already eighteen years old, this could be my last shot at becoming an idol!"

Nami, for once, kept silent, waiting for Asahi to finish what she wanted to say.

"Besides that," Asahi suddenly looked troubled. "Haven't we suffered enough from continuously auditioning? Having perverted old men trying to do things with us, being thrown around like trash... plus, being told really... upsetting things."

The two of them had had all of these things happen to them and had suffered through it bravely, hoping that one day their sacrifices woud pay off. Today, for Asahi, it seemed that this was the pay-off, this was her chance to be an idol. Despite the pretending-to-be-a-man part, this was the opportunity she had been so desperately wishing for.

"I want to be Music 10's top idol and flaunt it in their faces." Asahi remembered all the disgust she felt when she was pawed by perverted producer-types. Remembered how each and every time, she had put her best foot forward and was shot down. Remembered the comments; too fat, too skinny, no boobs, no hips, ugly, stupid, not sexy... she didn't want to audition anymore. And she wanted to show all those people who made her feel like nothing that she was something. That she could make it and she would shine. "Becoming a guy... I don't care how difficult it is; I'm definitely not going to let them see me fail!"

Nami looked up at Asahi and gave the girl a wry smile, the expression on her face one of resignation and wary hope. Maybe with this girl, together they could go places.

Getting up off the floor, Nami tilted her head upwards lightly, nodding at Asahi. "I'm Nami. And you?"

Asahi smiled at Nami, her new partner-in-manhood. "I'm Asahi."

---

endnote: next chapter (if there IS a next chapter, anyways) might feature more 'scenes' that weren't included in the series. I always thought Mendol coulda been fleshed out some more and drawn out into a long ass series...


	2. Chapter 2

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 2

author's note: Hey, so we're back :D And since this fic assumes they are speaking in Japanese... even though it's all in English... anything that is said in _English_ will be _italisized_. And the non-Japanese people who don't know Japanese that well will reflect it in their speech and it's not a typo or grammar error. Got that? Good! And when Asahi and Nami are in their Riku and Kai persona(haha), I'll be using male pronouns. That goes with Hinata/Kuu too, once she/he shows up.

language! If it was covered last chapter, I'm not going over it again, hahaha:

kochira koso -- me too

-san -- added at the end of a name, sorta like 'Mr/Miss'. But at the end

-sama -- suffix used at the end for someone really important, more respectful

hai -- yes

ara -- sorta like 'oh my', or something along that line of exclamation

tenshi -- angel

kouhai -- lower classmen

---

After the tour of the house and introducing themselves to each other formally, Nami and Asahi excused themselves to go back to their respective homes for some clothes and toiletries. They said good-bye to their families and went back to Kamonohatsu house that they would be sharing together.

"Tadaima," both of the girls dragged their suitcases and various bags into the house, closing the door behind them.

"Okaerinasai!" Marilyn was there to greet them. "Shachou has gone for the day to take care of some things, so the both of you will be working with me today!"

"Hai!" They both replied enthusiastically. "We'll just put these upstairs and then we'll start right away!"

"Oh!" Marilyn seemed to finally notice their luggage. "Well, I'll show you where you can store these. You won't be wearing much of your girl clothes anyways."

"What?" Nami blinked stupidly at Marilyn, pausing half-way up the stairs. Marilyn giggled at Nami's state of confusion.

"Well, the both of you ARE debuting as male idols. You'll have to keep up appearances!" Marilyn bounced up the stairs past them and turned to two other rooms that they had not had not been shown to them earlier. Opening the door to one of the rooms, the girls were faced with racks and racks of clothes obscured in darkness. The only window had heavy curtains blocking the light from coming through and a flick of the lightswitch showed the girls exactly what kind of clothes these were. Men's clothes.

"While you were gone, I called up the station and borrowed some clothes!" Marilyn said cheerily. "I asked for size small to medium in men's size. Clothes for every ocassion from formal to casual; but your stage clothes will be made as soon as I take exact measurements."

"So we'll have to wear men's clothes all the time?" Nami cringed, looking through men's dress shirts in her size. They were nice, sure, but she REALLY liked her own clothes!

Marilyn put a well-manicured finger to her cheek in thought. "Well, no, not ALL the time. Like now, Persona hasn't even made their first appearance and nobody knows you. So you're free to take your free time in your regular clothes. However, you do understand appearances have to be kept up when your job calls for it, right?"

"Haiiii..." Nami and Asahi pouted, dragging their suitcases to a corner of the room Marilyn pointed to. But they couldn't help being a little bit excited. This was it, this was their chance.

"You should change into your male disguises now, though. We have to get to the studio to work on your first song!" A little thrill of pleasure ran through Asahi and Nami's body. Working on a song! They were actually doing this!

"Hai!" They chirped together enthusiastically. At the stern look she got from Marilyn, they lowered their voice a bit. "HAI!"

"Here, you'll need these." Marilyn handed them both a tanktop. This was a special top, though, with extra lycra for extra compression power to bind their breasts down. "Instead of bras, you can wear this! It'll keep your breasts flat and give you a molded, defined men's chest!"

"You've thought about this quite a bit, haven't you?" Nami thought gloomily, looking at the small white tanktop with disgust.

Marilyn ignored Nami's gloomy look. "Come on, we don't have time to dawdle, we have the studio booked and they'll give it to someone else if we're late!"

"Hai!" The girls jumped to it, immediately stripping out of their clothes as soon as Marilyn shut the door. Slipping out of their bras, they donned their binding shirts, struggling a little with the tight fit but paused afterwards to grudgingly admire their now square, masculine chests.

"This is amazing!" Asahi poked at her chest, noting that it felt like hard muscle underneath her fingers. Her usually soft upper body was compacted to a more masculine shape with the ingenuous binding and the hidden extra padding in the tanktop. Plus, it didn't restrict her breathing too much!

"Huh..." Nami poked at her stomach after feeling her chest, goofily smiling at how the top flattened her stomach and made it look like she had abdominal muscles. She'd always wanted a six-pack! "But will this top make our breasts mold into a weird shape?"

"Nothing a nice massage won't fix!" Marilyn called from outside the door. "How long are you girls going to take?"

"3 seconds!" Asahi called back as they both hurried out of their clothes and grabbed a set of clothes while singing quietly to herself, not even really knowing she was doing it. "Sanbyou mitsumeru dake de..."

"Otoshite miseyou ka," Nami laughing sung, making up the following lyrics on the spot. Asahi grinned at Nami as she buttoned up her shirt, the two falling silent as they cast around for clothes and dressed. Meanwhile, Marilyn stood outside the door, stunned. Had shachou discovered... naturals? Shachou had said they were quick to pick up dance steps they didn't know, were they naturally inclined towards making music?

Only one way to find out!

"Here." The two exited the room to be confronted by Marilyn holding out two heads by the neck.

"AGH!!!"

"What are you two screaming about?" Marilyn pouted, brandishing polystyrene heads and looking curiously at the two girls. "Pick a wig. It'll be your hair from now on."

The two girls coughed, embarassed at their own reaction, then concentrated on the wigs on top of the two dummies.

"Hmm..." Asahi pressed a finger to her lips. "Which one..."

Both were short, men-style wigs. One was a stylishly-cut dark brown wig with parts of it highlighted red while the other was a multi-faceted blonde, the style a bit longer and shaggier than the brown. They were excellent wigs and would pass for real hair with no problems.

"Lets try them on." Nami suggested. Marilyn showed them quickly how to tie and clip their hair into place, then put a thin stocking cap on top of it. Then, they were taught how to put the wig on.

"Hm." Asahi ducked back into the change room to look at herself in the full length mirror in the change room, making a face at her blonde hair. "That doesn't look good at all."

"Me too." Nami grimaced, right beside Asahi. "This looks horrible on me. Switch?"

Carefully taking off their wigs so it wouldn't disturb their real hair underneath, they traded and carefully put on the hairpieces.

"This..." The transformed Kai looked at himself in the mirror, unable to stop a grin from appearing on his face. "This is me!"

"And this is me." Riku was grinning too, fiddling with a few strands of errant hair on his head, but otherwise satisfied with his appearance. This hairstyle was edgy and bold, a hairstyle that told whoever looked at it that the owner had impeccable and demanding tastes. Also, it told whoever looked at Riku that he could afford a stylist skilled enough to give him such a perfect cut. The shaggy blonde hair hadn't been 'Riku'. This smart cut with the bold red streaks definitely suited him. Meanwhile, Kai's longer, blonde shaggy hair seemed to match Kai's outspoken personality and lengthen his face, making it a bit more angular and sharp and less feminine

"You look like a yanki," Riku laughed, nudging Kai with his shoulder good-naturedly.

"Shut up!" Kai nudged back, a smile on his face to show he was joking. Kai was very pleased with his new hair. It didn't require too much extra primping, like with Riku's hair and Kai actually liked longer styles on guys anyways. It made them look a bit more dangerous and bad boy and Kai would have to say that with the type of company Nami hung around with, she would've totally been the bad boy type if she had actually been a guy.

"Now, pin it to your heads with these bobby pins!" Marilyn helped them out, showing them how to do it so the bobby pin was invisible and the wig held tight. "See? Because of these strategically placed pins, now even a good sharp pull--" Marilyn pulled at Kai's hair, causing him to scream girlishly. "--won't take it off easily!"

"Right," Riku took a step away from Marilyn nervously. Riku was decked out in a nice black suit with a suit jacket, looking incredibly good-looking and polished. His thin tie was tightened close around his neck in a perfect Windsor knot (how did Asahi even know how to tie a knot like that?), the cufflinks were elegeant and tasteful and the shoes she had donned were patent leather and fit her whole outfit spectacularly well. Kai on the other hand, even though he was wearing a suit too, had a totally different feel about him. He wore his white shirt untucked and cuffs and collar unbuttoned, tie tied loosely around his neck, with his pants hanging low and a wide white belt to compliment his attire. His suit jacket was a silvery-grey and instead of lapels, the jacket had a thin mandarin collar. Kai's clunky boots added a few more inches to his height (which he needed, really) and the large scuffed metal bracelets on his wrists gave him a bit more of an edge. Even though they still had girlish mannerisms, Kai and Riku were trying and if Marilyn wasn't in on the secret, she probably wouldn't have guessed. But they still had a long way to go.

"Okay, this will be your first time out in your male disguises, so remember to always be aware of three things," Marilyn held up three fingers and pointed to the first one. "How you walk, how you talk, how you act. You'll be working with people in the industry now and they all gossip; rumours get around fast. So keep in mind that the two of you are men now! Men amongst men!"

"Doesn't walk fall under act--"

"Completely different!" Marilyn sing-songed. "Com-pu-lete-ly dif-fer-rent! Now, lets head to the studio instead of standing around splitting hairs!"

In no time at all, they were at the studio. The two boys hesitated at the door when they saw a bunch of people look up from their workstation or instruments to stare at them.

"Good afternoon!" Marilyn chirped cheerily. Everybody gave the customary reply, still staring at Kai and Riku curiously.

"Osu!" Both Riku and Kai deepened their voice and greeted the men and women in the room. They all muttered their greetings, the women giggling a bit.

"Uh," Riku stammered, tugging at his suddenly too-tight necktie. "Hi. I'm Riku."

"Hey." Kai gave a nervous smile. "I'm Kai."

A round of 'yoroshiku onegaishimasu's and 'kochira koso's were exchanged. These were the people in the studio that would be helping them out. There was, of course, Marilyn who would be shadowing them everywhere and helping wherever she can, Kurokawa Nao-san who would be providing technical support on the mixing console with Utaka Hideki-san and finally, the musicians who might be rotating throughout their music-making.

"Kurokawa-san and Utaka-san are very good at what they do," Marilyn introduced the techs. Kurokawa Nao was a young woman with long brown-black hair tied up in a loose bun on top of her head. She had a pair of rectangle frame glasses perched on her nose that made her look very librarian-ish, her overall look giving Riku and Kai the feel of someone who was very professional and wanted others to take her seriously. Utaka Hideki, however, looked like a regular tech guy with messy hair, an untucked t-shirt under an untucked and unbuttoned button-up shirt. His jeans were slightly ripped and his sneakers had seen better days. But he carried an air of confidence about him that put Riku and Kai at ease.

"Shachou thought that these musicians might be able to find that sound you're looking for. They're also really good at what they do." Marilyn introduced the musicians, a slightly short (the height of the foreigner surprised Riku but delighted Kai for some reason) bearded New Zealander named Paul who insisted that they call him 'Just Paul' and a small and cute, bright-eyed drummer named Candy from Hong Kong who just nodded shyly at them.

"Candy and Paul aren't completely fluent in Japanese, so you'll have to talk slowly and use simple words." Marilyn told the members of Persona.

"Yes, we are idiots." Paul joked, overhearing them.

"_No, no!_" Kai tried out her English. "_Your Japanese, good!_"

"_Your English is pretty good too!_" Paul replied.

"_Yes, pretty?_" Riku tilted his head to the side, smiling in confusion. Did Paul just call them 'pretty'?

"Your English really good. Right, Candy?" Paul tried again in Japanese. Candy nodded again, agreeing with Paul but keeping quiet.

"They're so cool!" Kai leaned over to whisper to Riku. They rarely had any kind of interaction with foreigners and Paul's soft, New Zealander accent and Candy's mysteriousness was exciting!

"Well, we hope we can make you look cool too." Paul grinned at them, his fingers plucking a few strings on his bass. "We were just finished warming up. Now what sound you looking for?"

"Well, just... something like..." Riku floundered a bit, looking around the room. He had never done this before!

"Something like this," Kai swooped in to cover for Riku, humming the few lines that they had made up on the spot when they had been changing. "--something like that."

"Good, good..." Paul mumbled, picking up his electric guitar to play the notes Kai had hummed while Candy immediately started writing down notes on a music sheet.

"And this follows it," Riku hummed the next line. The four worked out the notes while Kurokawa-san and Utaka-san pulled up chairs to join them and add their inputs. They also took the time to show Riku and Kai the audio mixer ("My baby," Nao cooed, dropping a little bit of her professionalism) and the equipment in the studio. Before they knew it, they had whiled away a couple of hours and Marilyn had watched, fascinated as the two members of Persona charmed their unsuspecting audience.

'Shachou had wanted to test their appeal, and look at that, they've already won some unknowing fans!' Marilyn was cheering silently in her head. 'They've gotten to calling Kurokawa-san and Utaka-san by their first names and Paul seems to have taken to them. Even Candy seems delighted with them!'

Indeed, with Kai talking animatedly with Utaka-san and Candy, who just nodded or shook her head in reply to Kai's torrent of words, Kai was obviously a hit. The shy girl from Hong Kong who was usually so reserved even LAUGHED a bit at something the energetic blonde said!

Riku wasn't to be left out and sat with Paul and Kurokawa-san, going over the music they had written down and discussing the evolution of the music industry. Riku's serious side was incredibly charming and the way he unknowingly touched Nao's bicep as he talked to her... well, lets say Kurokawa-san's reputation as an ice-queen was melting quite swiftly.

'Oh my, they ARE naturals!' Marilyn smiled widely at the scene before her.

"Man, so that's when *I* said, what the hell?!" Kai finished his story, making Hideki erupt into laughter and Candy try to hide her fit of giggles behind her hand. "Wow. I think maybe I had a bit too much water before, 'scuse me."

Kai left Hideki and Candy's side to stroll over to Marilyn.

"Where's the lady's room?" Kai asked, a little bit too loudly. But fortunately, nobody was really paying attention. Marilyn smacked Kai on the arm anyways.

"Ow!"

"Oh, Kai, you're such a joker!" Marilyn laughed a bit too loudly, staring daggers at the blonde. "The MEN'S washrooms are just down the hall. You have to turn left at the end of the hall, then right, then it's the door on the left. Just follow the signs!"

"Men's?" Kai mouthed to Marilyn. "Seriously?!"

"Just pretend it's a unisex washroom!" Marilyn whispered and winked. Grumbling mutinously, Kai headed out to the washroom, finding it with little to no problem and did his business. But it was trying to get back to the studio that was hard.

"Where the hell am I...?" Kai muttered, wandering around. He had been wandering for a good couple of minutes and was seriously lost. "Maybe this door..."

Kai opened the door and was immediately greeted by a high, feminine yelp.

"Get out!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Kai immediately turned around and closed the door behind him. All he had seen was some woman, wiping at her face with her sleeve. Kai hadn't been able to see her face at all because of that and the fact that the woman had immediately turned away from the door.

"What was that?" Kai frowned a bit. Looking up and down the hallway, he groaned in frustration again. At this rate, he'd NEVER get back to the studio! Taking a deep breath, Kai turned back around and knocked on the door before pushing it open a bit.

"Excuse me--"

"Don't look at me!"

"Okay, okay!" Kai averted his face. "Geez... I was just, uh, wondering if you knew where recording studio five was?"

"I don't k-know! Leave m-me alone!" The woman's voice hitched on a sob, her voice nasally from a stuffed nose.

"Um..." Kai kept his face averted, the sob having caught his attention. He had wanted to leave but he just couldn't. Crying girls were a weakness of his. "You okay?"

"I'll be better i-if you l-leave!" The fact that this girl was obviously hiding out somewhere crying alone pulled at Kai's heartstrings. He could imagine himself in her place, maybe having failed an audition, disappointed and humiliated. Walking backwards into the room, he dug into his pocket and produced his favourite hankerchief, still white and soft because of Kai's diligent care.

"Here." Kai waved the hankerchief backwards, hoping the woman would see it. The woman still had her back to him but she could see the waving piece of cloth out of the corner of her eyes. Sniffling, the crying woman took the hankerchief.

There was a long silence as the woman wiped at her face and nose.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it." Kai shrugged his shoulders. "Just... you okay?"

There was another long pause. Then, finally, "No."

"Um. Are you gonna be okay?"

"Nothing's going to be o-okay! I'm trying my best, but it's just not good enough!" The woman's voice was self-deprecating and angry. "I'm trying so h-hard!"

"It'll be alright. Things get tough, you just gotta keep at it! It'll work out in the end!" Kai encouraged the mystery woman.

"You don't know t-that. That it'll a-all work out in t-the end."

"Well, even if it doesn't, you've tried your best, right? Shouldn't you be proud of your effort?" Kai paused. "And the people who don't appreciate you, well, they don't know nothing! Don't give up cuz I bet there's so many people out there who are just waiting for you to shine! Just keep going to your auditions--"

"Auditions?"

"Yeah, just keep at it! You'll be discovered soon!"

There was another long silence, then finally, the woman's voice broke the silence again.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Um... no. ShouldI? I don't really recognize your voice. Did we go to auditions together?" Kai still had his back to the woman and was severely tempted to turn around and take a look, but didn't. She HAD said she didn't want Kai to look at her and Kai understood why that would be. When Nami cried, she didn't want anybody to see her moment of weakness either.

"Nevermind." The woman laughed a bit.

Kai's mouth tweaked up in a crooked smile, pleased to hear such a pretty laugh. "Feeling better?"

"Yes." pause. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"What's your name?"

"I'm Nami--uh. I mean. No. Um--that's not my name--"

"You sure?" The voice held a bit of amusement now. "Your hankerchief says 'Nami'."

Kai cursed sharply. He had forgotten his name was on the hankerchief!

"Um, that is... yeah. Um. Igottagobye!" Kai raced out the door, slipping out before the woman could turn around to face him.

"Strange." The gorgeous woman with red-rimmed eyes sniffled and touched the hankerchief to her nose. It smelled of soap. "She'd forgotten this too..."

"Ray!" Her manager's voice carried down the hall. The long-haired woman, now standing alone in the room, had a pair of fashionably large sunglasses hanging from the front of her shirt and she lifted it up to her face to wear them now. She could see her manager pass by the room, glance in, then come back to do a double-take.

"Ray! Baby!" Her manager entered the room and walked towards her hurriedly, the oily tone of voice he always used to talk to her grating on her nerves. "It was just a little change in the music, why are you so upset?"

"Those were my lyrics!" Ray crossed her arms, feeling all the frustration welling up again, the calming affect Nami had had on her slipping too.

"And they're such good lyrics! They're deep and really full of meaning!" Her manager tried to sooth her. "BUUUUT... they just weren't, sexy, baby. And sexy sells CDs!"

"Ugh." Ray scrunched up the hankerchief in her hands. "Whatever. I'm taking the rest of the day off."

"But-but, Ray! Everyone's here waiting for you! Ray!" But Ray was already out the door and heading towards the escalators that would take her down to the ground floor and out the building. The man watched the diva storm out and blew out a breath, frustrated with the girl. If only she wasn't so willful! Then she woulda been perfect!

"Damnit," Sarukawa Keiji took a glance at his rolex. And he had so wanted to show off Ray to Saeko! Guess he'd just have to meet Saeko's new talents alone...

---

"Kai, it's a good thing we found you... how did you get lost anyways? Come on, before you guys are late," Marilyn was walking incredibly fast in her heels and Riku and Kai were trying hard to keep up. "Shachou told us she has someone important for you two to meet!"

"Who?" Riku asked, impressed with Marilyn's speed.

"You'll see!" Marilyn chirped back mysteriously. Whoever it was, though, was pretty important as they went all the way up to the top floor. The large mahogany double doors were truly impressive and the name 'Sarukawa Keiji - Monkey Productions' on the door told them who they were going to meet.

"Who's that?" Kai squinted at the name on the door. Marilyn knocked on the door, ignoring the question.

"Come in!" A jovial voice boomed from inside. Marilyn pushed the doors open, then casually pushed the the two members of Persona inside, almost toppling them into the room. With a quick 'excuse me', Marilyn had closed the door again. A man currently had his back to them and was talking on his phone behind a large wooden desk with a simple golden plaque that said 'president'. Saeko was sitting on one of the big plush couches in the sitting area of the extravagent room and motioned for the two young men to sit down on the couch next to her.

"Fix yourselves." Saeko hissed at them. They quick walk--more of a jog--to this office had made them slightly breathless and caused them to look slightly ruffled. Riku's hands immediately went to his hair to make sure each strand was in place, while Kai smoothed down his jacket, not really caring about his hair.

"Sorry, we've just run into a bit of difficulty with a recording today." The man who was obviously Sarukawa Keiji, came over and plopped himself down on the couch opposite them. He had thinning hair dyed a copper-brown and wore a dark purple suit with a loud tie.

THIS was the person they were supposed to meet?

Even though his words were directed at Saeko, Sarukawa Keiji's eyes were on the boys in front of him and he leaned forward to study the two sitting on his couch."These are the ones you told me about on the phone?"

"Yes indeed, Sarukawa-shachou! They are..." Saeko turned to look at Riku and Kai, her eyes widening when she saw how they were sitting. Coughing loudly to mask her words, she gave their legs a pointed look. "*cough*Legs*cough*placeyourlegsproperly*cough*cough*!"

The young men quickly uncrossed their legs, spreading them out a bit.

"Hohohoho!" Saeko's laughter was shrill and scary. "Quick, introduce yourself!"

Riku nodded, standing up and puffing out his chest. "OSU! I'm Riku from Persona!"

"OSU!" Kai shot up too, tilting his chin up a bit to look down his nose at Sarukawa-shachou. "I'm Kai!"

Sarukawa gave a little laugh, sitting back to look up at the two men. "You DID say they had an imposing manner... but they also have very cute appearances..."

Saeko gave another one of her shrill laughs as Riku and Kai fidgetted nervously under Sarukawa Keiji's scrutiny.

"Today we have come specially to give our regards to the President of Kamonohatsu Entertainment Agency's parent company, Monkey Productions," Saeko motioned for the boys to sit down. "Sarukawa-shachou."

"Don't tell me you're here to ask me for a favour." The President of Monkey Productions crossed his legs, a smirk on his face.

"Actually," Saeko returned the smirk with a smile of her own. Raising slowly from her seat, she meandered slowly over to Sarukawa-shachou, looking very much like a cat who had just spotted prey. "I would like you to let them participate in Music 10's next 'The Indies' performance."

Keiji scoffed, his genial attitude disappearing almost immediately. "These kids? No matter how much you beg me, I can't do it."

"You should be able to," Saeko sat down on the armrest of Keiji's couch, invading his personal space. "After all, you ARE Sarukawa-shachou, the manager of Music 10's Number One, Ray, and the President of the entertainment giant, Monkey Productions."

Saeko's hand had found its way to Keiji's knee and was slowly running up his thigh while Riku and Kai watched, open-mouthed in shock. Sarukawa Keiji didn't have a chance as his brain turned off and all his thinking was done with his groin.

"The both of you," Keiji's voice was rough and low. Motioning to them impatiently, he pointed to the door. "Leave us! Go!"

"OSU!" Kai and Riku were glad to be out of there.

---

Things were happening faster and faster. Saeko had managed to pull some strings, using methods that Kai and Riku didn't want to dwell on and after three days of hurriedly writing their first single and working out the dance steps, they practiced and practiced for their debut. Saeko had even managed to get them fitted for their stage costumes and had them delivered to the office the night before the Indies. The stage outfits actually just looked like a more stylized and fitted version of what the two had picked to wear the first day. The main difference from their outfit at the beginng was that Kai's grey jacket was gone and he sported a black jacket now with a white edge running down the lapels. Riku's clean-cut look from day one had been relaxed and he sported some fingerless gloves to appear tougher. Last, but not least, there were some eye-catching accessories pinned to their jackets.

"Three days... of hellishly styled dance routines..." Riku groaned, feeling all of his muscles complaining. They were up at the crack of dawn for three days either at the recording studio or the dance studio. Sometimes, they would even be at the two studios late in to the night. Riku was really grateful to everyone at the recording studio for getting up early when they needed to, or staying late in to the night.

Kai nodded in agreement, hissing through his teeth as that movement sent muscles twinging. "We'll be dead before we get on stage!"

"Saeko-chan!"

Riku and Kai looked up to see two men approaching them, recognizing them immediately. They were the producers that had auditioned them! But seeing the two men give them only a brief glance and seem to not recognize them at all, Riku and Kai breathed a sigh of relief.

"Producer Kaga!" Saeko greeted the man, bowing and trading words. "Please take good care of us!"

While their manager and Marilyn talked to the two men, Riku glanced around the backstage area. The Indies performance was help in the park near TV Tohto, with a stage set up and all the performers hiding out backstage, waiting for their turn. There was a whole kaleidoscope of genres represented by the artists that had come to perform and Riku knew this was a big deal. Every year at the Indies, bands who did really well and stood out had a huge chance of being pushed in to the mainstream and Riku knew this was what Saeko was aiming for. The sound of the MC introducing the next group to go up and the roar of the large crowd outside sent Riku's heart pounding. They would be going up soon too! They were finally doing this!

"Ahhh... I'm feeling so nervous!" Riku squeaked quietly to himself, looking around at all the other artists backstage trying to keep quiet while trying to rehearse whatever they were going to perform. There were also various crew members running about, making sure everything was running smoothly. Through the hustle and bustle, everybody looked like they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Except for one person, who seemed out of place. A young man with badly dyed hair wandered around and trying to act inconspicuous, playing with his camera.

"Hm?" Riku did a double-take. "Jiro?!"

"Wait a minute," Marilyn was beside Riku in a heartbeat. "Don't tell me that's someone you know!"

"He lives near my house," Riku confessed, frowning a bit. "Ever since kindergarten, he's kept saying that he wanted to marry me. He's an annoying and persistant idiot."

"Fiance?" Marilyn's voice was on the verge of glee. It was like she hadn't heard anything Riku had said except for 'marry'.

"That's not it," Riku said sullenly. "that's only what he thinks! Three years ago, he left home saying he wanted to be a photographer. I wonder why he's here now?"

Jiro, meanwhile, was mumbling to himself while checking his camera. He wasn't a very good-looking man, with his dull hair and the awkward air around him. As Riku watched Jiro wandering around with his eyes on his camera, he accidentally bumped into the two producers Saeko had been talking to before. There was an exchange of words where Jiro looked sufficiently intimidated.

"Well," Marilyn drew Riku's attention away from Asahi's childhood friend. "Good luck and give it your best shot!"

"Hai!" Riku said smartly and looked around, finally noticing that Kai wasn't by his side. "Ara... Where's Nami?"

Riku finally saw Kai, standing near the entrance to the stage, looking out at the band performing. The crowd wasn't reacting too well to this group of punk rockers and the bad atmosphere was affecting Kai.

"I-I'm going back!" Kai turned away from the stage, eyes wide with fright. "I can't do it! To perform on a stage like that, I can't do it!"

Stage fright had hit Kai hard and it was starting to affect Riku's own confidence.

"Well, that was alright, wasn't it?" The MC's words traveled backstage, along with the boos of the crowd. "Come on everyone, give them a hand!"

There was a grudging round of applause, but the boos persisted.

"Can't win them all, can we?" The MC chuckled. "Next, we have a new group performing today, please put your hands together for 'PERSONA'!!!"

"Come on, you guys are up, go go go!" A guy with a clipboard and a headset was pushing them on stage. Suddenly, Riku and Kai found themselves in the spotlight, with their microphones in hand and a crowd of people staring at them and clapping.

"Osu!" Riku shook himself out of his stupor. "I'm Riku from Persona!"

"K-K-Kai, I'm," Kai stammered. Riku and Kai both froze after that.

"Opening lines!" Marilyn hissed from the side of the stage. "Opening lines! Say the opening lines you rehearsed!"

Riku nodded, taking the reins. "The both of us are men amongst men, that's why we'll always greet you with an 'OSU'! And you guys can reply with a 'BEST'! Lets try it out! OSU!"

Kai raised his hand, struggling to keep a hold of his stage fright. "OSU!"

The line was supposed to be delivered in a witty way and meant to elicit laughter and response, but it just ended up sounding corny. Paul, Candy, Nao and Hideki were in the audience and they all winced a bit as the crowd booed them for such a horrible line.

"_Jesus,_" Paul grimaced. "_Even though I don't really understand Japanese, that was still pretty bad._"

Candy nodded, folding her arms across her chest. Nao and Hideki also agreed, having understood basically what Paul had said in English.

"Shachou, that was such an awkward scene!" Marilyn was at Saeko's side, wringing her hands. "Maybe it's too soon for them to debut?"

"This is a test." Saeko replied stonily. She had given Persona several tests since they had signed on. Nao and Hideki were a test, because they had seen many of these idols come and go and their interest and approval was a sign that Saeko had picked the right people. Candy and Paul, as foreigners, had little to no interest in Japanese pop stars beyond the customary 'oh, that's interesting'. The fact that they were here, rooting for Persona meant something. "If they can't handle this, they won't be able to make a name for themselves even though they're disguised as men."

"Anyways, please listen to us," Riku charged forward desperately, he could see his dream going down the drain... "Persona's--"

As Persona floundered, drowned out by the heckling of the audience, there was suddenly a flash of pink and a girl in a frilly dress ran on stage.

"Stop that girl!" Security were on the stage including stage-hands and the two producers from before. They all tried to grab the girl, but a boxcutter kept them away. The crowd gasped as a collective whole, watching the girl waving the sharp object around and holding the security guards at bay.

"Don't come closer! I'll do it!" She held the blade to her throat and the security guards froze, some even backing up a few steps. Cameras started flashing.

"Denpa?!" Kai immediately recognized their long-overdue-comrade.

"What is that girl doing?" Riku grabbed at Kai and whispered harshly into his ear.

"Hinata wants to die!" The Lolita-style girl screamed at the security people, announcing her intent, the box cutter inches away from her own throat. "I've always wanted to be an idol, for that I've been to more than a hundred auditions and at last I thought I'd suceeded."

Denpa's eyes sought out Producer Kaga and rested on him. "I was tricked by Music 10's producer, Kaga!"

The man started visibly and looked around, guilt apparent on his face as all eyes turned to him.

"He said such venomous words to Hinata and..." Hinata's voice dropped a bit, but her voice was still audible to all on stage. "...he tried to... he tried to... do bad things to Hinata..."

Riku felt a chill run down his spine, his heart clenching in sympathy on hearing what Hinata had gone through.

"W-What are you saying?" Kaga laughed nervously, then shouted at the girl. "I didn't do anything at all!"

"Stop pretending! Hinata will definitely not forgive you!" Hinata brandished the sharp blade, warning the people away as they tried to approach her again. "If Hinata dies here, everything will be alright again!"

"Don't do anything stupid!" Kaga screamed out, half out of his mind with fear. If this girl killed herself on the stage of Music 10's The Indies performance, it would ruin everything! And who would the guys on top blame? Since Kaga was the producer in charge and was seen to be somehow involved in this mess, Kaga would definitely be in hot water!

"This doesn't look good, Denpa's snapped!" Kai's fretting pushed Riku into action and he stepped forward to call out to Hinata, trying to calm her down.

"Tenshi!"

The frills-clad girl paused, looking over at the person who had called her 'Angel'.

"You're an angel on Earth!" Riku called out, wincing at how bad that sounded, but knowing it would appeal to the half-crazed Denpa. "An angel."

"What?" Hinata croaked out, barely able to speak past the tears clogging up her throat. She had tried so hard, SO HARD. She had believed that one day someone would look at her and tell her she could do what she always wanted to do: make people happy. Then, Kaga had taken that all away, tricked her and then tried to force himself on her. Thank god she always double-triple-quadruple tied her corsets! But the things he had said after... calling her ugly, worthless... she had tried. She had tried SO. HARD. And for what?

"I know that you're an angel on Earth." Riku looked over at Kai, trying to signal the blonde to help him out.

"Uh, that's right." Kai stepped forward, putting on his best 'convincing' face. "A pure angel on Earth!"

"But if you really are an angel on Earth, you have to bring happiness to everybody." Riku shot a sideways look at Kai and took a step forward too.

"Yeah, an angel would never bring sadness." Kai inched even closer, encouraged by Hinata's immobile state and how she was completely focused on them.

"It's hard, but if it's you, you can do it." Riku delivered his speech with gusto. "You can totally make people happy. But if you end it here, you'll never get that chance."

"Really?" Hinata sniffled, her hands trembling, blade still at her own throat. It was as if these two people knew who she was and what she wanted to do! "I could be an angel? No matter how old I am?"

"Yeah," Riku nodded. "Even if you're eighteen years old--"

"--Even if you're over eighteen!" Kai was an arms-length away from Hinata now.

"You're an angel on Earth." Both of them held out their hands to the girl tentatively. Hinata smiled at them, a genuine smile. All she needed was for someone to tell her she could do it. She had tried... and these performers knew. Noted her effort and told her to keep going. Nobody had thought she could do it and everybody had tried to discourage her. Not these two. There was a charged pause before the boxcutter fell to the stage floor and Hinata took Riku and Kai's hands. The crowd erupted into cheers and applause as stage-hands and security swarmed the stage, police had even been called up. They quickly and gently pulled Hinata away from Riku and Kai, reassuring the two young men who had just stopped a suicide that they would take care of everything.

"Well," Riku blinked as the stage cleared and the MC grinned from the sidelines, motioning for them to continue.

"RIKU, YOU'RE SO COOL!!!!!" Paul screamed out from the crowd, eliciting a chuckle from his female companions.

"KAI, I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES!!!!" Hideki, not to be outdone, decided to add his little bit in.

"Uh," Riku and Kai laughed into their mics as similar calls started pouring out from the crowd.

"Sorry bout that, folks." Kai gave a wave. "But we had to help out a bit."

"Today, please let Persona sing on behalf of all the angels on Earth." Riku spoke into his mic, clearly and calmly. He felt no fear now. He remembered why he wanted to be an idol now, remembered a young girl from long ago, lost in the crowds. And how a bunch of performing musicians had saved her.

"Persona's '3 Seconds'!" Kai and Riku said the title together. As their song began, Candy started jumping and clapping, starting a mini moshpit around her that spread quickly until it seemed everybody in the audience was screaming and clapping for Persona.

"So cool!" Jiro crowed. Having been put right near the front of the stage with the rest of the press and photographers, he had caught the whole drama on stage and knew that he would be eating tonight! The story of how Persona saved that girl was going to be news and he had the pictures for it! And this band... they were just too cool for words!

As Persona sang, only aware of the audience and blinded by the lights, something was happening backstage. Performers parted like the red sea for Sarukawa Keiji, leading a bunch of assistants, hair stylists, make-up artists and a group of three bodyguards who kept their precious cargo within their protective circle. As they passed, musicians bowed respectfully to the imposing entourage, like they would to royalty passing by. The woman nestled in the middle of her protectorate was known from Hokkaido to Okinawa. Even people out in the boonies knew who she was!

And as the group made their way to just off-stage, the bodyguards loosened their circle so Ray could see what was happening on stage and the eyes glued to this entourage could see the charismatic diva in all her glory. Ray was decked out in a simple one-piece cashmere sweater that bared her shoulders and clung to her figure in all the right places, ending just a little above mid-thigh. The dress showed off her gorgeously long legs and she had complimented the outfit with simple white stilettos. Simple. But stunning.

"What was that?" Ray took off her sunglasses, eyes following the two performers on stage, hearing the crowd scream for them. Ray hadn't heard this kind of reaction at the Indies since... well, since she herself had performed back when she was still trying to make a name for herself.

"This is becoming interesting, isn't it, Ray?" Sarukawa watched the boys on stage too, pleased that the performance had been saved since he had a few of his artists performing today... but now, he was wary of Saeko's young talents. Best way to keep his people at the top, Keiji had found out, was to make sure the promising young idols in other agencies didn't get a chance. Nip it in the bud.

Ray was wrapped up in her own thoughts as she watched the two young men on stage performing. She had come just to see if there would be anything interesting since she was around the area. Now she just couldn't stop looking at this new group. Ray also found it highly disconcerting that throughout Persona's performance, her eyes would somehow always manage to zoom in on the blonde performer's figure and his pretty face.

"Arrange for me to meet them." Ray said suddenly. Her bodyguards exchanged glances, a bit surprised. Ray NEVER wanted to meet people and Sarukawa arranged Ray's schedule with that in mind. The idol had a public face for her fans; gracious, grateful, charming and humble. But in reality, Ray wanted as little to do with other people as possible. She never wanted to meet her kouhais in her agency, nor help them unless it was absolutely necessary. For her to want to meet some new kids in some other agency was odd.

"What?" Sarukawa Keiji was thinking along the same lines as the bodyguards and gaped at Ray like she had just sprouted a horn. "You want to meet them?"

"Arrange it." Ray shot him a look that said 'or else'. Then she turned to one of her assistants who winced as soon as the diva's eyes rested on her. "What do I have now?"

"Um..." The assistant tapped at her PDA with trembling fingers. "Y-you have a photoshoot and i-interview with Harper's Bazaar, Ray-sama."

"Well," Ray put on her sunglasses again, stealing one last look at the blonde singer. "We don't want to be late, do we?"

The entourage agreed with the diva enthusiastically and they quickly swept out of the area without Persona ever knowing that Ray, the charismatic diva, had been there watching them.

---

"Persona's the best!" Kai and Riku shouted, walking through one of the hallways of the TV Tohto building, heading to the dressing room the tv station had provided for them to rest and refresh in. After Persona had saved Hinata from killing herself, the station had been unbelievably grateful. The station had served Kaga with his termination letter, lined up some interviews that the TV Tohto wanted to do with Persona and wanted to talk further about letting the upcoming group have some late-night air-time! All in all, a productive day!

Pushing open the door to their dressing room, still high from their success, the two guys, their manager and her secretary didn't notice the person in the room until they had closed the door behind them.

"What..."

In a baseball cap, a zip up hoodie and baggy pants, the boy that turned to face them was quite pretty. Very pretty in fact.

"Let-me-join-too!" The pretty boy smiled at them.

"Huh?" Kai frowned, looking at this boy. He *knew* that face. Both Kai and Riku stepped closer, getting the eerie feeling that they, in fact, DID know this person. And this person seemed to know who they were. Who they really really were!

"AH!" Riku pointed at the stranger wearing the baseball cap. "DENPA!"

"AH!" Kai's eyes lit up in recognition. With her long hair under the baseball cap and the boyish clothes, Hinata was actually pretty indistinguishable from a teenage boy!

"An angel on Earth, eighteen years old." Hinata lowered her voice, the natural smoothness plus the huskiness actually sounded pleasant. "I remember what the both of you said to me! We're auditioning comrades, right? Let me join too!"

"What are you saying?" Riku crossed his arms and pouted, remembering how Hinata had ran off that night. And didn't Persona just debut as a two-person group? "Wanting to join us now is--"

"You're in!" Saeko brushed Riku aside.

"Hai?"

"Huh?!"

"HAH?!"

"Your stage name will be," Saeko placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder. "Kuu. From now on, Persona will be a three person group!"

Marilyn was quick to catch on to what Saeko was doing and started clapping excitedly, happy that Persona's manager had solved what could have been a pretty sticky problem. This girl had almost killed herself today because she was so depressed. She also had immediately seen through Kai and Riku's disguises. There was no telling what this 'Denpa' girl would do.

"As expected of the president!" Marilyn cheered. THIS was why she loved Saeko!

"Yay!" Kuu gave a girly cheer then looked at his new groupmates expectantly.

"Yay." The half-hearted cheer made Kuu stick out his lower lip.

"Not like that!" Kuu punched the air with her fist. "Yay!"

"Yay!"

---

endnote: Wow. That took a while. And that ends this chapter! If there are mistakes, please excuse them. -_-; I've been going back and forth from two fandoms and it's getting confusing. By the way, anybody know the name of that second producer who's always with Kaga in episode one?


	3. Chapter 3

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 3

author's note: Every time I watch Mendol, it cracks me up, lol

language!:

daisuki -- I really like you

---

"Goddamn that 'L' woman!" Kai cursed. Having just finished recording a show that would air late night, the young men that made up 'Persona' were in the process of changing.

"Mou!" Kuu agreed, rubbing his back against the wall while trying to slip into a pair of grey baggy sweatpants and force his feet into his pair of white sneakers. Kuu shook his head to keep his longish black hair off the back of his neck, the dark-blue highlights in his hair flashing in the flourescent lights.

"Don't do that!" Riku smacked Kuu on the arm while wiggling about in itchiness-induced agony. Saeko had taken their comfortable binding tanktops and made them try binding themselves with bandages. Why? In case their tanktops were misplaced, they would always have ace bandages handy in first aid kits. Biting his lip against the maddening itchiness, Riku tugged on a pair of nicely-pressed khaki slacks, then proceeded to change into a nice blue button-up shirt.

"The only reason we'd lose our tops is if Saeko took them." Kai said bitterly, having already changed into a white, v-neck cotton shirt coupled with a pair of scuffed jeans and black boots. He was currently in the process of reaching under said shirt to get at the scratchy bandages to his chest. They each owned several of these binding tanktops so if one was in the wash, they would have replacements. Saeko was just being overly cautious now! These past few days had been hell, all three of them trying to stop from wriggling from the itchiness while doing late-night segments and such. It was maddening and took all of their will-power to not scratch like flea-invested dogs.

"I'm sooo itchy!" Kuu whined.

"Hey!" The door to the small closet/changeroom burst open, revealing two guys looking in eagerly.

"KYAAA!" Instinct born from years of juvenile attempts at glimpsing girls half-naked from boys prompted the group to action, even though all three were completely dressed. The three 'men amongst men' gave a high-pitched scream, covering their chests with their hands and turning away from the two men.

"What's with those girlish screams?" One of the guys asked, feeling like he happened across a group of girls changing. "But anyways, I got a question for you guys."

Riku squared his shoulders, scowling at the men as he pulled on a nice light-coloured blazer and slipped nto a pair of nice brown loafers. Kai took this opportunity to pull on his biker-inspired leather jacket that matched his whole 'bad-boy' image, while Kuu slipped on his red hoodie and zipped up, snug and comfortable. "What do you want?"

The two guys had magazines in their hands and held up their treasures proudly. The pages of the magazines had half-naked women spread across them, in various erotic poses.

"These breasts," The guy with the goatee, or as Persona liked to call, Guy #1, held up his magazine, then pointed to his friend's. "and these breasts. Which is better?"

"What?" Persona, as a group, blinked in confusion, slightly disgusted by the two guys in front of them.

"I look at the size of the nipples to pick the winner," Guy #2 explained, circling the large diameter of the nipples in his magazine. "This guy says the smaller the nipples, the better!"

"The ones here are better, right?" Guy #1 pushed the magazine forward eagerly.

"No way," Guy #2 scoffed. "The ones here are better."

"Get outta my way." Riku snorted and rolled his eyes, pushing past the two.

Kai followed after, giving a derisive sniff. "Hmph."

"Bleh!" Kuu sneered at the men. It sucked sharing rooms with other people. After the first day of being spoiled by TV Tohto, they were quickly pushed into a dark corner and it was hard work all the way. They even had to share a dressing room... They didn't mind it though, and even accepted the fact that they hardly got any spending money from Saeko and it felt like everything was working against them...

"Men are the worse!" Kuu whispered conspiratorially with Kai.

"You're right about that." Kai grumbled back, shooting a dirty look over at some of the guys. The sour expression on his face melted when he caught sight of some of the shirtless guys walking around. "But maybe not all of them..."

Kai and Kuu had matching dreamy looks as they ogled the men. Kuu's dreamy sigh made Riku roll his eyes.

"Men are THE BEST!"

Kai turned to Kuu, gushing quietly. "The best part of a man is his strong arms!"

"I want to be held against a man's strong chest." Kuu cooed.

Riku gave a weary sigh. "Maybe women are the worst of all."

The door suddenly burst open and Marilyn, obviously excited, rushed in, not caring that this was an all-men's dressing room. Unsurprisingly, none of the men minded that the woman with the short pencil skirt and low-neckline blouse had popped in.

"Hey you guys!" Marilyn gushed, happy to see her three favourite 'boys'. Persona smiled back at Saeko's peppy secretary. They loved Marilyn; she was easy to get along with and was passionate about pushing them to the top. "The release date of Persona's CD has been confirmed!"

"Seriously?!" Kai squealed. Guys #1 and #2 looked up from their respective girly magazines to look weirdly in Persona's direction.

"Uh," Kai cleared his throat, trying to take on a deeper tone of voice. "I mean, is that so?"

"It's true!" Marilyn continued gushing, incredibly excited for what this news meant to the boys. "On top of that, the distributing company is Japan's #1 Top Seller: Sunny Music Company!"

"Awesome!" Kuu squealed, clapping excitedly. Guys #1 and #2, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, gave Persona another strange glance. Kuu quickly amended his statement, lowering his voice to a ridiculous baritone. "Er... THAT'S GREAT."

"Right now, the president's off to fetch an influential member of Sunny Music Company!"

Riku clasped his hands in front of his chest, ecstatic at the news. "It's a dream come truuuue!" Another look from the girlie-magazine guys prompted Riku to change his tone of voice. "Uh. I mean. It's like a dream come true, yo."

"You're not dreaming," Kai grinned, pinching Riku's cheek. "Here, here..."

"Me too!" Kuu started pinching Riku's other cheek.

Not to be left out, Marilyn reached forward and pinch Riku's nose. "And here too!"

"Stop it, Kai, Kuu and Marilyn too!" Riku pushed their hands away, a gruff look on his face. But he was so happy. So incredibly happy.

"Isn't it wonderful," Guy #1's loud voice carried over to them easily as he nearly shouted at his partner. "to have an influential person backing you? No talent at all, but you can still debut!"

"Ryoji!" His partner hissed, looking over at Persona nervously. But everybody in the dressing room had heard and while Persona as a group was angry at the accusation, Kai was too hot-tempered to not do something about it.

"You got a problem or something?" Kai's naturally boyish nature and quick tongue caused him to move forward on the two, even though Ryoji topped Kai by at least a head. Riku and Kuu were quick on Kai's heels, holding back the quick-tempered blonde.

"Watch that tone of voice when you're talking to me," Ryoji stood up and looked down on Kai threateningly while his partner clung to his arm in distress, trying to calm his friend down. "We've been in the industry for ten years already."

"What, ten years?" Kai scoffed as Kuu hit the blonde young man repeatedly on the shoulder, trying to get the hot-headed Kai to shut up. "Never heard of you, that's some talent you have there, huh?"

"What'd you say?!" Ryoji was at near roaring volume. "You wanna go?!"

"Yeah, come on, let's fight one to one!" Kai shot back. Marilyn had a grip on Kai's shirt and immediately lost that when Kai pulled loose to lead the way out of the dressing room and into the hallway.

'Kai sure is manly!' Marilyn thought, pleased. But worried. Definitely worried.

"Don't be like this Ryoji--" Guy #2 tried to hold back his friend.

"Come on, give me your best shot!" Kai taunted, loosening his tie and throwing off his jacket. Infuriated by Kai's cocky attitude, Ryoji pushed his friend aside roughly.

"Kai!" Riku called out, following the stream of young men eager to watch the fight. Riku grabbed Kai's arm, leaning in to hiss into his ear. "You idiot! If you slip your gender here by getting in trouble, what are we going to do?"

"That's right!" Kuu agreed, nodding nervously. Kuu hated fighting!

"Let go of me!" Kai brushed his bandmates away, surprisingly strong. Then he turned back to Ryoji, his chest puffed out and sneering slightly at the taller man. Kai was high on an adrenaline rush and the crowd goading the two combatants on only set his blood racing more. "I dislike, no, I *hate* guys like you who don't do anything but whine all day!"

Kai cracked his knuckles, all set to throw down with the other guy.

"You have a death wish, don't you?!" Ryoji roared, throwing his body into a wild right hook. Kai saw that coming from a mile away and quickly ducked under Ryoji's arm, turning to watch the bigger man's momentum. The blonde's smirk died on his lips as he realized the big man's fist was on a crash course with Riku's face.

"KYAAAA!" Kuu screamed in a high-pitched voice, then quickly amended his voice. "No, I mean, AUGHHHH!!!"

Thankfully, just as Riku was about to be hit, some guy ran in front of Riku and intercepted Ryoji's punch, which K-O'd the interloper effectively. The fight was quickly abandoned as everyone gathered around the fallen man, to look at him curiously.

"Who is he?"

---

"Ow ow ow!" The man with the fashionably-permed and dyed hair shrank away from the hot towel in pain. They had managed to wake him up and help him back to their crowded dressing room where he sat on a chair now, tended by Marilyn. This man had an air of importance around him... or maybe it was just just many assistants fluttering around uselessly that gave Persona that impression.

"Does it feel better?" Marilyn asked meekly, shooting Kai a dark look.

'What?' Kai spread out his hands in a gesture of innocence.

"I apologize sincerely," Saeko bowed formally, her expression one of intense remorse and anxiety. "to have allowed you, Katsuyuki-san, the director of Sunny Music, into harm's way."

"Sunny music?" Kuu tilted his head to one side in confusion. Wasn't the director of Sunny Music an old man? Or, at least that was what Kuu expected...

"Katsuyuki-san is the successor of Sunny Music, and he became the director at such a young age!" Saeko frowned at her charges. They always seemed to be causing trouble!

"Nah, my father's success is due to Saeko-san's care and I wanted to help out as soon as I could." Katsuyuki was fresh-faced and had a neatly trimmed beard growing on his chin. His good looks and breeding were coupled with a gracious mannerism; coupled with his heroics from before, he seemed like the perfect man!

"Ah, I want to take good care of Katsuyuki-san too," Saeko fluttered her eyebrows at the young man, approaching him. For some odd and scary reason, Riku felt that Saeko was radiating the persona of a black widow spider at the moment. Marilyn, meanwhile, was glaring at her lover in frustrated anger. The boys of Persona, used to Saeko's quirks, shuffled off to the side to gossip.

"He's really cool!" Kai gushed quietly.

"And I don't see any wedding ring which means.." Kuu grinned at his bandmates. "...he's single!"

"This isn't the time to talk about relationships!" Riku scolded, though he had to admit that the young director was really good-looking. "We're guys now!"

Kuu and Kai were off in their own dream world as they clasped hands and swung them giddily. "A true ikemen!!"

"Hey, you three!" Saeko's bark snapped the three to attention. "Get over here and apologize to Katsuyuki-san!"

Riku and Kuu walked over quickly while Kai grudgingly lagged a bit behind. He didn't do ANYTHING wrong! But still, he apologized with Riku and Kuu.

"We're really sorry."

"It's okay." Katsuyuki waved off their apology and got up from his seat. Walking behind them, he placed his hands on Kai and Kuu's shoulders, in a friendly manner. "Picking a fight, huh? It's really rare to see young men with backbones nowadays."

"Young men?" Kuu blinked and frowned. "You know, actually, Hinata is--"

Kai and Riku both covered Kuu's mouth with their hands, frantically pulling the boy away from Katsuyuki-san.

"Were you about to say something?" Katsuyuki looked at the three, puzzled.

"No, nothing." Riku's grin was a little bit too wide.

"Yeah," Kai elbowed Kuu in the ribs while keeping his hand over the talkative young man's mouth. "nothing!"

"Well, they're off work on their album and finish recording their studio." Saeko bowed low, drawing attention away from her 'boys'. "Thank you so much for coming by and showing an interest in them."

"It was my pleasure." Katsuyuki smiled and returned the bow. He snapped his fingers, as if suddenly remembering something and turned to Persona. "You guys are new in town, right? I'm always looking for people to party with. Why don't you give me your cell and I'll take you out? Sort of a welcome to Sunny Music party."

"Well..." Riku glanced over at Saeko, not knowing how to respond. At their manager's frantic nod, Riku gave her cell number to the young director.

"Marilyn, take them to the recording studio." Saeko said breezily. "I'll walk with Katsuyuki-san to the entrance."

"I--yes. Of course." Marilyn pouted, her bad mood readily apparent. "Come on, you three! You have a lot of work to do!"

The three gave Katsuyuki a short bow and an 'OSU!' then ran off to follow Marilyn.

"The nerve of her!" Marilyn muttered, power-walking through the hallways.

"Marilyn," Kuu raced up beside the other woman, eager to please. The third member of Persona was distinctly different from her bandmates. While Riku was professional and serious, and Kai was brash and cool, Kuu was sweet and eager to please. "Don't be upset! Shachou loves you!"

"She loves a lot of people, but most of all herself." Marilyn muttered darkly. She gave Kuu a weak smile though, seeing that he so wanted to please. "Don't worry, Kuu. I'm alright."

They arrived at the recording studio soon enough and greeted the regulars in the room. Paul, Candy, Nao and Hideki bowed at them cheerfully.

"Kuuuu!" Nao crooked her finger towards the young man, who eagerly trotted over to Nao. "Sit!"

Kuu joking crouched down on the ground in front of Nao.

"Hand!"

Kuu immediately placed his hand on Nao's outstretched one.

"Speak!"

"Nao, DAISUKI!" Kuu said cheerfully and was immediately gathered into Nao's arms joyfully. Nao's reputation as the ice queen in the recording studios had been completely demolished by Persona and she didn't seem to mind one bit.

"Good boy, you're such a good boy!" Nao cooed. Everybody chuckled and shook their heads. Since Kuu's introduction to the group, he had quickly slipped into the flow of things with little to no resistance. Nao had taken to him like fire to gasoline and so had the guys in the recording studio. Candy also seemed to like him well enough, but since she never really talked, it was hard to know for sure.

"What's up?" Kai went over to Paul and Candy, who had been jamming together before they came in. Candy smiled at Kai and motioned to her drums and drummed a quick beat, communicating quite well was was up.  
"Waiting for you guys." Paul pointed to his watch and grinned. "You fight?"  
"How does news travel so fast here?" Kai demanded to know, shaking his head a bit.  
"Working on 'Water'?" Riku sat next to Hideki, immediately serious. They had a good list of songs half-written for their first CD, but there was still some so much to be done. It was getting easier though, and with Kuu in the mix, it was actually even better. Kuu was, to say the least, a musical genius. Apparently, he knew how to play the violin and the piano quite well, compose music and add the necessary layers to a song that needed just that little bit more. 'Water', the second song on their album, was almost all Kuu with input on lyrics supplied by Riku and Kai. This song was going to be a song with just strings and piano. It made for a very clean sound and had more of an R&B feel to it. 'Water' mixed in well with the other distinct songs on the album but one could tell, after a listen at the half-finished music, that it all would form a cohesive whole. Persona had a good sound going for them with a few surprises and everybody working on the album was enthusiastic about the group's first CD.

"No 'Water', guys." Marilyn said firmly. "All of you need to finish recording '3 Seconds'! We have a single to put out soon so today you boys will be singing mostly."

"Okay..." The 'men amongst men' let out a sigh. They loved their '3 Seconds' song... but seriously, they've been singing it non-stop! It would be nice to work on something different.

"That's how to industry works, guys." Nao gave them a cheery smile. "Sing until you're sick of it! Then, hope that you could only be so lucky to hear your song played-out on the radio stations! So come on, all together now!"

Everybody in the recording studio raised a fist up in the air in solidarity. "OSU!"

They got through their day with little to no problems, working hard and giving it their best. When they were finally back at the Kamonohatsu house, the disguises they wore to transform into the dashing young men of 'Persona' was stripped away and only the three girls, Hinata, Asahi and Nami remained.

"Awwww, why do I have to be disguised as a man?" Nami grumbled.

Hinata had something to say too. "Everything might work out if Hinata could get closer to Katsuyuki-san..."

"You two," Asahi sighed, watching the girls flop down onto their futons.

"Whaaaat?" The two grumbled.

'Children,' Asahi thought internally, trying to draw from her supply of patience. 'They're just like children.'

Just about to explain to them AGAIN why they couldn't just reveal their identity to the director of Sunny Music, a loud crash from downstairs and Marilyn's raised voice traveled up to their rooms.

"What's the meaning of this?"

The three girls exchanged looks. All thoughts of Katsuyuki-san were pushed aside and the girls rose as one to tiptoe out of their room to check out what was going on.  
"Looking after Katsuyuki-san's father? Taking care of the bottom part of that perverted president?" Marilyn's accusations flew fast and furious. "Even though you said yourself that men are filthy!"

"I would do everything to help these kids debut." Saeko's back was turned to Marilyn. "Persona is my, Kamonohatsu Saeko, own ambition. No matter how I *bleep* and *bleep* with men, I definitely did it because I want to help them become Japan's Number 1 Top Idol group!"

"But you don't have to *bleep*."

The girls listened on in shock and felt their eyes moisten a bit at the hardship that their manager had gone through for them. But their tearful eyes quickly dried up when Saeko turned to Marilyn, a devilish look on her face and a feather in her hand.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" purred the dark-haired manager, running the feather lightly over Marilyn's exposed skin, made possible by the secretary's usual low-cut blouses.

"Even if you say that, I'm..." Marilyn gasped, obviously turned on. "I'm... not letting you off!"

"Is that so?" Saeko moved behind the secretary, her near proximity and the danger radiating off the manager a complete and utter turn-on to the sexy secretary. The buxom assistant let out a low groan as Saeko alternated between kissing and licking that spot on her neck that she liked so much.

'I'm... letting... her off again...' Marilyn thought hazily before all her thought-processes were put on hold by Saeko's expert ministrations.

"Those two are doing L again!" The three girls whispered in dismay.

Nami felt like she was going to throw up a bit in her mouth. The other two girls didn't have as big a reaction as Nami but it was still really, REALLY awkward when Saeko and Marilyn decided to do it in public places where the girls were likely to stumble upon them!

---

"Sugu ni, ugokenaku naru! Sanbyou mitsumeru dake de," It was recording time in the studio again and Persona was giving their all. Everybody was in casual clothes again today, since all they'd be doing was staying in the recording studio.

"Otoshite miseyou ka!"

They were all in tune and everybody was singing at their very best. Except for one group member, that was, who was trying his hardest to get rid of the distracting thoughts running through his head. These thoughts were of a certain manager and a certain secretary going at it on the couch in the Kamonohatsu house living room, an image that had burned into his head before he had had the chance to retreat and run screaming to the room Asahi, Hinata and Nami shared.

"OmaaaE nO aiii nanteee..." Kai's singing was being affected by his seriously disturbed psyche. Paul, who was hanging around the studio even though it was his day off, watched from behind the soundproof glass that gave a view into the recording room. Frowning a bit at the odd notes coming from out of Kai's throat, he nudged Hideki and nodded towards Kai.

"He's been like that since he came in." Hideki explained and shrugged. "I tried to ask him--"

"UWAAA!!!" The feedback made Nao and Hideki yank off their headphones and look into the recording room just in time to see Riku and Kuu mirror their reaction and Kai freak out.

"I can't take it anymore!" Kai shouted, the look of horror on his face was almost comical. "I'm going to escape the clutches of the L's! Staying there with them SICKENS MEEEE!!!"

"What are you saying?" Riku and Kuu made a grab for Kai before he could run for it. Kai, the guy who seemed unafraid of anything, had reached his limits with the L. Kuu and Riku didn't really have a problem with 'L's or 'Gay's (except for when they have sex in public places... and that goes for boy/girl couples too!), but Kai was going a little overboard.

"Let go of me!" Kai tugged against his bandmates' grasp. "I hate L the most!"

Finally managing to shake off their restraining hands, he ran for the door just as it opened. Like a football player, Kai tried to slip past whoever was blocking the doorway and since Kai was no football player, he only managed to knock right into the man blocking his path.

"WAAAH!" The man was no other than Sarukawa Keiji, president of Monkey Productions. Knocked down to the ground, Sarukawa let out some low-pitched whining while he rubbed his sore arm.

"Sarukawa-shachou!" Riku was quick to act, rushing to greet the man as his bandmates lined up beside Riku. Keiji got to his feet, managing a smile at the three young men.

"Osu!" Riku greeted, giving a quick bow that Kai immediately mimed while Kuu watched the proceedings curiously, unsure of who this man was. Riku pulled Kuu forward and directed Keiji's attention to their newst member. "This is the first time you've seen Kuu, isn't it? Kuu, This is Sarukawa-shachou. He's the President of Monkey Productions, the parent company of Kamonohatsu Entertainment Agency."

"Osu! Kuu-su!" Kuu stood up a bit straighter and smiled brightly at the man.

"Ah, so you're the new member. I've heard from Saeko." Keiji grinned at them. "Actually, today I've brought a special guest here."

Taking a step away from the doorway to the side, Keiji allowed for a woman with large sunglasses on, decked out in a white dress that fell just above the knees to walk into the recording studio. She wore a faux-fur vest and supplemented her outfit with long strings of pearls and a lacy scarf that went almost all the way down to her feet, looking like she had just stepped off a cover of a magazine in her fashionable white boots. A large bulky man who looked like he benched 500 pounds everyday walked in after her.

The mystery guest had looked extremely familiar to Persona when she had walked in and as soon as she took off her sunglasses, all three of the young men in the room recognized her immediately.

"R-Ray?!" Riku stuttered, completely stunned that his idol was right in front of him.

"Seriously?" Kai's jaw fell open.

Kuu shot off a line of info, too shocked to do anything else. "Ranked No. 1 continuously for ten weeks on Music 10, the very charismatic singer, Ray! Here! In this studio! Right now! AT THIS MOMENT--"

Only a quick nudge from Riku shut up the babbling Kuu.

Keiji grinned, always proud of the fact that his girl, his Ray, reflected what he, Sarukawa Keiji, had been all those years ago. Number one in the whole of Japan! Persona stood there, in slight awe of the woman in front of them and all three of the men that made up this boyband wore identical shit-eating grins on their faces even though Kai tried really hard to keep his smile in control. He had to be cool! He had to be calm... but... but it was Ray! She was right there, in front of them!

"Ray is under our main department and now is our company's best-selling artist." Keiji pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket, absentmindedly dusting Ray as if she was some sort of golden statue. Ray had to give a discreet cough before her overzealous manager backed off. Seriously. She needed better management.

While her manager gave the group a long list of the awards and honours Ray had received, the Diva studied the three young men in front of her. She noted that while two of them were average height, the blonde one was pretty short for a guy. What had caught her attention then? What about the blonde made it impossible for her eyes to not to follow his figure when he was performing on The Indies' stage? She had been mesmerized by his soft face...

"Ano..." Riku interrupted her thoughts and when the singer looked at him, he fidgeted nervously in place. "I've always been a fan of Ray's. If you don't mind, could I please shake hands with you?"

Kai and Kuu both nodded eagerly but before they even had a chance, someone had beaten them to the punch.

Jumping in front of Riku, a tall man in the light green jumpsuit of a janitorial staff grasped Ray's hands in both of his own, shaking her hand enthusiastically, while professing how honoured he was to be able to meet the songstress.

"Oi!" Kai grabbed the taller man's shoulders before Ray's bodyguard could move into action, then blinked in surprise, recognizing the man with the goatee from yesterday's fight.

"AH! You're that idiot from yesterday!" Kai withdrew her hand, not eager to touch him for more than a moment. "Why the hell are YOU here?"

"When there's no music jobs, I'm here doing janitorial work as part-time to earn some cash." Ryoji growled, a bit angry that the cocky young man from yesterday was interrupting the moment he was having with Ray. Her hand still in his grasping ones, Ryoji grinned at her again, not seeing the boyguard behind him move forward threateningly. Nor did he see Ray's narrowed eyes look over the musician/janitor's shoulder to stop her guard in his tracks.

Ray would deal with this problem herself.

"I... I've always wanted to stand on the same stage with Ray--"

She slapped his hands away. Outwardly, she could have been a sculpture shaped out of ice... inside a storm howled, raging inside of her. The frustration from having her creative input dismissed, the outrage she felt from having some JANITOR be able to sneak past her incompetent bodyguard to paw at her and her natural prickliness found a convenient target.

"That's so old-fashioned."

"Old-fashioned?" Ryoji blinked. Ray's true personality was like an unpleasant splash of icy cold water to all in the room who did not have daily contact with Ray.

"Old-fashioned?" Persona echoed, shocked at how Ray was treating one of her fans. Even if he WAS an idiot.

"Hmm." Ray shook her head, her expression thoughtful. Hiro, her bodyguard, winced at that look. He had seen Ray like this a few times before, right before she pulled out something extremely hurtful to say. Nobody deserved to be on the Diva's bad side.

"Not old-fashioned," Ray rocked on her heels, eyes sharp and cold. "If I'm top-grade caviar, you'd be shark faeces."

'Where the hell does she get these comparisons?' Hiro wondered, feeling sympathy pains for Ryoji who looked ready to cry. The joy that had been lifting him up before quickly disappeared along with his self-worth.

"How could shit and caviar be on the same stage?" Ray turned away, her tone still light and casual, as if asking a question about the weather. "It's sickening just thinking about it."

She strolled over to the little couch in the room and sat down, crossing her legs, a haughty air about her. Kai had watched this all unfold, feeling a righteous anger bubbling up inside him that he was trying to control... but every other word out of Ray's mouth made Kai want to slap her.

"Um... uh..." Ryoji lowered his head a bit, accepting the devastating blows to his pride, unable to defend himself.

"If your status doesn't meet your dreams, you're better off waking up." Ray delivered her finishing blow coldly. "And disappearing."

"Yo, you ugly hag! What the hell is your problem?" Kai couldn't take it anymore and blurted out the words that had been just dying to come out. Ray looked up at Kai from her spot on the couch, trying not to show how shocked she was that someone had DARED to talk back to her.

"What's wrong with peole who want to achieve their dreams? I don't care if you're the most popular singer or whatever! A woman with an ugly character like yours is nothing to rejoice about!"

Actually, everybody was in total and utter shock at Kai's words, not just Ray. Riku was the only one able to shake herself out of it though, horrified at the thought of the trouble Kai's mouth would get them into.

"Oi, how can you say that to Ray-san?" Riku scolded Kai and the blonde bristled. Was EVERYBODY on this spoiled princess' side? Sure, that idiot Ryoji was one of the biggest idiots Kai had ever met, but even HE didn't deserve to be berated like that!

"Get offa me!" Kai pushed Riku back roughly, his attention still on the Diva sitting on the couch. Riku's momentum knocked him back onto his ass and into a small table, upending a glass of water all over the young brunette man.

"Riku!" Kuu used the sleeves of his flannel shirt to try and pat dry Riku's hair, worried that his bandmates' wig might be ruined.

"Listen here!" Kai grabbed Ray's wrist and pulled her up in one fluid motion, getting right up in the Diva's face despite the height difference. Ray's eyes were locked on Kai's, her expression was a bit softer and looking just a bit hurt by Kai's words. "If you don't fix that attitude of yours, you're gonna be lonely for the rest of your life."

Before Kai could continue his rant, Saeko burst into the room and ran at the blonde, pushing him out of the way. Immediately, she turned to Ray, looking completely apologetic.

"I AM SINCERELY SORRY!" Saeko bowed as low as she could without losing her balance, hoping her apology would placate the Diva and Saeko wouldn't immediately have to slaughter Kai to appease Music 10's Number One.

Instead of exploding though, Ray was motionless, her eyes trained on Kai who was picking himself off the ground and grumbling about abusive 'L' managers... before Kai could dust himself off and face Ray again, the Diva had turned around and stormed out of the room.

"Ray!" Keiji and Hiro ran after the singer, but not before Keiji threw a furious look in Kai's direction. Running to catch up to the big bodyguard, Keiji vented on the big man.

"Why didn't you stop that kid from talking like that to Ray?! Now we'll never get anything done today!" Keiji hissed.

"Why didn't YOU do something?" Hiro raised an eyebrow at Keiji. He was being slightly disrespectful, he knew, but Hiro also knew that there were few people Ray could stand and he was one of the few she tolerated around her day and night. So Keiji wouldn't be firing him soon.

'But I messed up big time.' Hiro thought darkly. He had let his guard down, thinking that they were inside the workplace and there wouldn't be crazies around trying to tear off a piece of Ray. Even though that janitor was harmless, what if he hadn't been?

"Ray!" Hiro called out, leaving Sarukawa behind to catch up with the songstress ahead. She had her sunglasses on already and the main bulk of her staff who had been waiting in the hallways while Ray visited with Persona, swarmed around her.

"Yo, man. What happened?" Another bodyguard walked along side Hiro, his voice low. He had heard the raised voices inside the recording room and was in the process of going in to check up on Ray before he was nearly bowled over by her royal highness. Hiro gave a small shake of his head: this was not a good time to be talking about it. The other bodyguard nodded, understood what Hiro was trying to say and knew exactly what kind of stink the Diva could kick up when she was in a bad mood.

"What do I have today?" Ray barked down at a mousy assistant following her. The assistant eeped and quickly rattled off Ray's schedule.

"Fine. But cancel my dinner appointment with what's-his-face." Ray's face brooked no argument.

"Ray," Keiji waded through the crowd. "Ray, I'll get someone to take care of those boys. They won't work in this town, let alone this country--"

"Don't you dare." Ray came to a screeching halt and several people almost toppled over trying to hold themselves back and away from the Diva so they wouldn't crash into her from her sudden stop. "It... it was a misunderstanding, that's all." Her eyes sought out her manager's, the expression in her eyes sharp and unforgiving. "Don't let me find out you've done something stupid."

"Oh... kay." Hiro was starting to get weirded out. Was this really the Ray he knew? Was she... trying to PROTECT someone instead of ruthlessly stamping them out under her heel?

"What's his name?" Ray ignored her flabbergasted manager and asked her assistant softly. "The short, blonde one."

"Um," The assistant blinked rapidly, unused to this side of Ray. "Uh, his name, um... Kai. His name is Kai."

"Kai." Ray smiled a bit. The name fit.

---

endnote: Wow. That was a doozy. There might be some (a lot) mistakes in this since I wrote most of this and checked it over in the dead of night. lol. Enjoy.


	4. Chapter 4

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 4

author's note: Who else is watching Majisuka Gakuen? :D And just a heads-up to all the AKB48 fans that might be reading this fic -- there definitely will be some guest appearances later on from certain members. :D

language!:

gomen nasai - sorry

ecchi - pervert

ohayo (gozaimasu) - good morning

"Why are we here again?" Kuu muttered unhappily, surrounded by girls who were trying to press drinks into his hands. The boys were in nice dress shirts and slacks, Riku had even opted to wear a tie while Kuu and Kai decided to do without. Persona had decided to go out after getting a call from Katsuyuki-san to join him at a very exclusive club. Riku had thought this was the only way to lift the heavy mood from before, after sharing with Hinata the story of Nami and Asahi's brush with the snake-guy. Saeko had allowed them to go, albeit grudgingly, with conditions and a curfew. Riku, Kuu and Kai had all complained at the mention of a curfew but now they wished the curfew was earlier. This was NOT the type of fun they had in mind.

"He's the director of Sunny Music, this is work." Riku explained weakly. He had no idea this was going to be THAT kinda club when he had accepted Katsuyuki-san's invitation.

"Gaaah! Don't touch me there!" Kai hissed, his face scrunched up in pain. Some girls seemed to have taken a shine to Kai and they leaned closer at his exclamation, cooing about how they would 'kiss Kai's boo-boo all better'. Where was Kai's boo-boo? Well... Kai had paid dearly for telling off Ray. Saeko and Marilyn had been furious at Kai's lack of respect and as a way to keep the hot-tempered Nami in check, they had held her down and whipped her ass to drive the point home.

"Don't even THINK about kissing me there! Hentai, get offa me!" Kai was blushing a bright red and his cute sputtering only served to attract even MORE girls to him. It was like dumping a bucketful of blood into the ocean; sharks were bound to appear.

"Ne, ne, we saw how you guys saved that girl on stage during the Indies," The woman on the left of Riku cooed. "It was soooo cool!"

"Ha, yeah..." Riku kept trying to pull his arm out of the woman's grasp, his own face going red when she kept rubbing her two very big assets against his trapped arm. This was not turning out like Riku had planned. The level-headed one of Persona had imagined that they would all go out to eat, have a little to drink and then head home just in time for curfew. He had NOT imagined being surrounded by women who were a bit more touchy-feely than he was used to or comfortable with.

They had had such a difficult morning... besides Kai's argument with Ray, Asahi had bumped into Jiro in her girl form! Riku's entire outfit had gotten wet during Kai's scuffle with Ray and instead of going to the changeroom to change, Asahi had just picked a random empty meeting room to use. Kuu had left his red hoodie with Asahi and then ran to get dry clothes for her. With her wig and pants off, Asahi had snuggled into Kuu's big hoodie and settled down to wait when Jiro had tumbled through an open window.

'Thank god that idiot had jumped to a conclusion right away and left.' Riku sighed, still trying to pull away from the woman holding on to her arm. Now, stupid Jiro thought she was working as an idol and had finally achieved her dream... well... he was right on most points but Riku guessed that Jiro wouldn't have thought that Asahi would be debuting as a man.

"Really," Riku tried to be polite as the woman pressed closer. "You don't really have to hold on to me like this."

"But I feel so good!" Riku's companion fluttered her eyelashes at the young man.

"SAVE...ME..." Kuu was pinned between two women who were arguing heatedly about who Kuu would prefer.

"Oh, sorry for calling you guys out suddenly like that." Katsuyuki-san had two girls on either side of him and he hugged them close, grinning at the three young men. "I'm picking up the tab tonight so everyone, party hard!"

All the other men with them, young up and comers and some older executive types who worked in the industry were there and all of them cheered, ecstatic to hear that the young director was treating.

"Excuse me," The tone of Riku's voice was bordering on annoyed. "What is this place?"

"What?" Katsuyuki-san stopped necking some girl to look over at the young brunette in astonishment. "Haven't you heard of the Fast Club?"

"What, don't tell me it's your first time!" The girl on Katsuyuki's arm was on Riku immediately. "That's sooo cute!"

"Come on, it's okay to touch." The girl was cute, her hair in relaxed curls down her bare shoulders. For some odd reason, all the girls were wearing swimsuits that all seemed a size too small. Letting slip that this was the first time Persona had been to Fast Club was a big mistake as the working girls all focused on the newbies, delighted that there was fresh blood.

"Stupid, leeeeet goooo of meeeeeee!" Kai's horrified cry was lost in the loud music and the giggles of the girls as they pounced on the three boys.

"Nooooo!" Kuu's high-pitched whisper reached Riku's ear as the young man tried hard to push a swimsuit-clad girl off her lap as politely as possible.

"This is wonderful!" Katsuyuki-san turned to one of the other men that had joined him on this outing and they all laughed, enjoying the girls of Fast Club a lot more than the boys of Persona were. Thankfully, a whistle suddenly sounded and most of the girls--including the ones on Kuu, Kai and Riku's laps--vacated the area.

"Your time is up!" A man in a waiter's uniform came up and bowed politely to the customers. "Thank you very much!"

"Thank you very much!" The girls echoed cheerfully before prancing off to see to other guests.

"Byebye!" Katsuyuki-san waved cheerfully. "See you again soon!" As soon as they left, the director sat down next to Riku, a lecherous smirk on his face. "It's not bad, right? The theme's 'High School Girls'. They wear school swimsuits during Physical Education and aprons during Home Ec."

"Katsuyuki-san's a regular here," One of the girls that had stayed, introduced as Aiko, poured a whiskey on the rocks for the director and snuggled up next to him, pouting. "However, he has ten lovers and doesn't come here often."

"But I keep coming back because of you, Aiko." Katsuyuki rubbed Aiko's shoulders, cooing in baby-talk with her as she played the part of the spurned lover.

"Ten?" Kuu pulled a face, his opinion of Katsuyuki falling fast.

Kai leaned over to Kuu. "What a horrible guy."

"Eh?" Katsuyuki sat up a bit, frowning, having caught the end of that.

"No, well, don't worry about it. Um, well, I wanted to thank you for yesterday." Riku said quickly while discreetly pinching Kai's bottom.

"GYAH!!" Jumping up a bit, Kai glared at Riku as everyone at their table looked at the blonde strangely.

"Yesterday?" The young director seemed confused... and a bit distracted since his fingers were dancing lightly over Aiko's breasts.

"Ah yes, you protected Riku from getting punched." Kuu supplied.

"Ah, that!" Katsuyuki grinned, remembering the occasion. "Nah, it wasn't like I wanted to protect him. That time, I was just heading into the building with your manager when we saw you guys fighting. Saeko had run up to seperate you two and I had run after her. I didn't anticipate the fact that she'd stop short of you guys and I bumped into her and tripped a bit. My momentum sorta put me right in front of that guy's fist."

"That means... it's just a coincidence?" Riku was crushed. He had thought he had found a prince, a real man amongst men! But... Katsuyuki-san was turning out to be quite disappointing.

"I have nothing to say." Kai folded his arms, shaking his head.

"Well, forget about that, it's in the past." Katsuyuki motioned to Aiko who had already started preparing drinks for the three members of Persona while other girls were pouring out drinks for the other men sitting at their table. "Come on, drink up."

"No thanks," Riku rejected the offer quickly. "We're still underage."

"What?" Katsuyuki-san scoffed. Everybody else was downing their drinks. "Then... sing!"

"Sing?"

"You guys are singers, right?" Katsuyuki had a mischievous gleam in his eyes as he stood up and clapped, getting everyone's attention. "Hey, everyone! Gather up, the popular group, Persona is going to sing for us!"

There were cheers as everyone enthusiastically agreed to Katsuyuki's idea, extolling his genius and how much they had wanted to hear Persona sing, too. To Kuu, it sounded like everyone was just brown-nosing but hey, what did he know?

"Why must we sing in this place?" Kai grumbled as he and his bandmates were pushed to the centre of the room with mics pressed into their hands and the music in the club turned off. Riku had to agree with Kai this time. He felt like he was a trained monkey and when Katsuyuki said 'dance' they were supposed to dance.

"Hinata doesn't want to sing," Kuu pouted.

"That's Sunny Music's successor, we'd better not upset him." Riku rationalized, making a point in his head to politely put off Katsuyuki-san next time he invited them out at night.

"Hey, hurry up and sing!" Katsuyuki shouted. The other guys at the table joined in on the heckling, starting a chant.

Riku frowned but brought the mic up. "Well then, please listen to us, Persona's--"

A whistle sounded, interrupting them along with the suddenly loud generic music that had been playing in the background. The girls that had left their table before came back in just aprons and lacey lingerie, flooding the table with their girlish giggles and immediately pouncing on Persona.

"Wait a moment--don't--!" Riku barely managed to jump away as hands grabbed at her pants.

"Don'ttakeitoffdon'ttakeitoff!" Kai clutched at his shirt, trying to stop questing hands from popping the buttons on his shirt.

"Pleeeease stop that--" Kuu started off in a girly voice then quickly tried to amend his mistake, sounding like a boy just going through puberty. "I mean, uh, STOP THAT."

The three young men all exchanged frantic looks and all came to a similar consensus: EVERYBODY FOR THEMSELVES!

With that in mind, Riku, Kai and Kuu all ducked down, slipping from the scantily-clad women's grasps. Riku broke free first, glancing behind him to see that his two bandmates had been caught.

"GOMEN NASAI!" Riku blurted out before running away from several girly pursuants who thought this all was a game.

"TRAITORRR!" Kai and Kuu screamed as they were dragged back into the mob of giggling girls. Riku ran for his life, not understanding why she was so deathly afraid of them catching up to her... and the GIGGLING. The giggles were soul-chilling! Ducking around a corner, Riku hid off to the side, waiting for the footsteps of the girls chasing him to fade away.

'But they could come back!' Riku's eyes darted around and he noticed the fire escape. The roof!

"WAAAHHH!!!" Rushing up the stairs, Riku burst through the door, relieved to be away from the suffocating atmosphere of the Fast Club. "What the hell is up with that Katsuyuki? Even though he saved me... but that's just a coincidence." Riku continued muttering to himself, moving to the barrier around the roof. "Asking us to sing, yet indulging himself with women. "As I expected, men are the worst!"

The door to the roof suddenly flying open scared the hell out of Riku, but instead of the pursuing girls he had expected, Katsuyuki-san stumbled through the door with a bottle of cognac.

"What are you doin' up'ere?" Katsuyuki-san slurred.

"Ah, nothing," Riku said hurriedly. He did NOT want to be alone with this idiot. "We should be getting back."

But just as he passed Katsuyuki-san, the young director grabbed a hold of his arm, stopping Riku in his tracks. The tall director regarded Riku with a frown, his breath smelling of strong liquor. "You're a weird guy, you know? A really weird guy."

"Hey," Riku tried to keep his nerves in check, putting a scowl on his face and pulling out of Katsuyuki-san's grasp. But inside, Riku was freaking out. What if the director knew Persona's secret?! What would happen then?! "What do you mean by 'weird guy'?"

Katsuyuki gave Riku a bitter half-smile now. He was tipsy, but he was still thinking quite clearly. "Normally, people will always try to flatter me. If I bring them to places like this, they'll listen to whatever I say." Katsuyuki put down his bottle of cognac on the balcony edge. "But you guys are different."

"That's nothing to be happy about." Riku muttered to himself. They were too different, different enough for other people to notice. They weren't like normal guys. This was bad.

"Eh?"

"Uh, nothing. Well, you know, we're men amongst men." Riku said, hoping Katsuyuki-san would take that excuse. He walked up to lean against the balcony beside Katsuyuki-san as the director gave the young man an appraising look. If anybody else had said they were 'men amongst men', Katsuyuki would have laughed at them. But when this guy said it... well, Katsuyuki believed him.

"I have yet to have someone like that by my side. That's why I've been ordering those around me like idiots." Katsuyuki smiled self-deprecatingly. "I'm the worst of them all."

"It's true that men are the worst." Riku turned to Katsuyuki, suddenly wanting to cheer up the young director. It was just... heart-breaking seeing that hardened bitter look in Katsuyuki-san's eyes. "But because of that, everything becomes interesting."

"Interesting?"

"They're the worst and surprisingly idiotic. But even if they are the worst, if you know the reason their like that, you will know that they're a little interesting." Riku tried to explain, a bit frustrated that she couldn't explain her feelings better. "I mean... Katsuyuki-san, what makes you act the way you do?"

Katsuyuki turned away from Riku, looking out at the city lights. Everything was so pretty...

"My father." Katsuyuki said suddenly.

"Eh?"

"My father, I guess. I feel like everybody expects a lot from me, because of my father." Katsuyuki said slowly. "But most of all, father expects the most from me. And I'm trying... trying really hard, to be more like him. But it feels like I can't be myself. I'm trying to do what my father would do, but I feel like I make bad decisions--"

"But what would Katsuyuki-san do?" Riku tilted his head to the side. "You're trying so hard to be like someone you're not, why not try being yourself?"

Katsuyuki was stunned by the simple, yet insightful answer Riku had given him. It was an answer, really, that anyone would have given him and had been giving him. But when other people said 'Be yourself' they actually meant 'Be like your father. That is who you are'. From this... kid in the industry... it felt like something.

"What was that--" Katsuyuki grinned foolishly, wanting to make light of the suddenly heavy atmosphere. He was a bit drunker than he thought though and tripped over his own feet. Thankfully, Riku was there to steady him.

"Are you alright?" Riku had a firm grip on his arm, pulling Katsuyuki back up.

"Geez," Katsuyuki straightened up, patting Riku's body in appreciation. "Riku, you ARE really manly. You have a small physique..."

'What... what... is going on?' Riku frowned, the girl part of his brain was sounding the alarm. Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.

"But your chest is surprisingly solid, huh." Katsuyuki continued pressing his hands against Riku's, chest, palming the flesh in his hands to better appreciate how solid Riku was. Riku, meanwhile, was staring at Katsuyuki in slack-jawed horror.

"ECCHI!" Riku shouted and pushed Katsuyuki away with all his might. Being a bit drunk, Katsuyuki fell like a tree.

"What the hell!" Katsuyuki growled up at Riku, then paused, noticing Riku's tomato-red face and commented on it stupidly. "Your face is really red."

Riku had no words. First, Katsuyuki-san was nice, then they found out it was all an accident AND THEN he's some womanizer and after THAT he seemed really sad and NOW he was feeling Riku up! Without another word, Riku ran back to the doors that lead down to Fast Club. Hurrying down the stairs, he marched back to the main room of Fast Club, determined to gather her group mates and get back home.

"Kai, Kuu, lets go back!" Riku shouted crossly as he entered the loud room. It had been loud before, but now the place was near deafening with the excited shrieks from the girls of Fast Club.

"Kai-chan and--" Kai was swaying tipsily.

"Kuu-nyaa are--" Kuu was also swaying from side to side.

"ABOUT TO START!"

The girls shrieked again as the guys started dancing to the music, funny enough, ridiculously in time to the beat and totally a hit with the girls. Riku wouldn't have minded so much if it was just the dancing, but when Kuu started undoing his belt and suggestively thrusting his hips at some girl, Riku knew he had to do something! Rushing forward, he tried frantically to buckle Kuu's belt again, to the displeasure of both Kai and Kuu. From his proximity, Riku could smell the fumes of alcohol coming off the two in waves. Kai and Kuu were drunk off their rockers!

"We're just about to start our happy time!" Kuu was a little bit too loud and a lot more boyish than usual.

"Thas'right," Kai pulled at Riku's shirt clumsily. "Riku has to take it off too!"

"No, no, Saeko will kill us!" Riku hissed. That seemed to cut through the alcoholic haze Kai and Kuu were in.

"No more whippings!" Kai blurted out fearfully.

Kuu nodded. "No, no, we'll be good!"

"Buuuut..." A sly smile passed over Kai's face. "A drink'sa'right!"

"A glass of shochu on rock, coming up!" A peppy girl was at their side in a moment, holding a too-large glass of alcohol. With his arms held on either side by Kuu and Kai, Riku found the drink pressed to his lips and the surprisingly smooth drink going down his throat.

'Oh, hell.'

And that was the last coherent thought Riku would have all night.

---

"My head huuuurts..." Nami groaned. Every chirp from the birds outside was like a nail driving into her skull. They had somehow all arrived home, changed and slipped in to their futons in the room they shared. Of course, they all smelled of smoke and alcohol and the scent permeated the room.

"Ahhh... Hinata's about to diiieeee..." Hinata agreed.

"We have to get up quickly." Asahi groaned, glancing at the clock on the wall. They were going to be late... "If shachou finds out--"

"Ohayo." Two voices, not very happy-sounding voices, greeted them. Shachou and Marilyn! The three girls promptly jumped to their feet.

"OHAYO GOZAI--" All three stopped as vertigo hit them at the same time, along with nausea and pain.

"GAH!" Nami clutched her head in agony.

"I feel terrible." Hinata clamped a hand over her mouth, hoping nothing would come up.

"It's nothing," Asahi said quickly. "We'll change our clothes as soon as possible--urk."

Saeko took a step closer and took a tentative sniff. She immediately regretted it as the smell of stagnant alcohol hit her.

"Stinks." Saeko coughed, hoping that she wouldn't upchuck the breakfast Marilyn had prepared for her. Holding out a hand, she was happy to feel the familiar handle of her whip in her palm within moments. Marilyn was not just a pretty face, she was an amazing assistant/secretary!

"Seems like the three of you have been out partying, huh?" Saeko glowered at them. The things she had told them not to do they did! They had broken curfew AND they had been drinking! Saeko didn't even want to THINK about any of the girls smoking!

"WHIP." The girls cringed, recognizing the instrument of torture immediately.

"ATTENTION!" Marilyn barked. The girls immediately straightened up, dreading what was to come.

"TURN RIGHT!" The girls all turned until their backs were facing Marilyn and Saeko.

"STICK OUT YOUR BUTTS!"

The girls did so.

"This will make you remember for a hundred years!" Saeko brought the whip down on Asahi's butt as hard as she could.

"AH!"

"You have to be aware of your image as an idol!" Hinata was next in line and Saeko didn't play favourites: Hinata got just as good as Asahi did.

"YAHH!"

"You haven't learned at all from the previous experience, huh?" Saeko came to the last in line and this time, wound up for the strike. Saeko played no favourites, but she seemed to have chosen a favourite whipping-boy... or girl... or boy... whatever... to whip.

"UWAAAAHHHH!!!!!"

---

"It seems as if there are people looking for Nami-chan and Asahi-chan." Marilyn leaned forward to whisper to Saeko. The president of Kamonohatsu Entertainment Agency gave a barely perceivable nod of her head as she kept her eyes on her charges in the recording studio. Saeko had already gotten a heads-up about Nami and Asahi's pursuers after 'overhearing' (hidden mics were okay in private spaces like bedrooms, cameras were not) the girls talking about their encounter with the 'snake-guy', Saeko had been prepared for this. Why hadn't that stupid girl Asahi given that purupuru to the men when they had asked for it?

"We'll just have to watch them more closely now. But," Saeko glanced at Marilyn. "Make sure nothing leads back to us. We have to protect these boys."

"Hai." Marilyn said smartly, her stomach fluttering a bit at how intense shachou was. Saeko was just so awesome! Even with a frown marring the dark-haired shachou's face. A frown? Marilyn followed Saeko's gaze, through the sound-proof glass, into the recording room. The problem was apparent: Kai was messing up the recording.

"I don't feel so good." Kai gagged, clapping his hands over his mouth. They had showered and dressed in casuals again, Kai and Kuu going a bit more casual than usual and had opted to just wear sweat pants, hoodies and t-shirts. Even the normally straight-laced Riku was in a t-shirt, casual jacket and jeans.

"You idiot, we're going to get whipped again if you do that!" Kuu pointed discreetly at the window. Saeko stared back at them and brandished her whip. Riku and Kuu smiled pleasantly and gave Saeko a small nod, feeling cold sweat bloom on their foreheads.

"I know, but I--" Kai practically threw off his headphones as he gagged again, making a mad dash for the exit. Ignoring Riku calling his name, Kai got out of the recording room and headed towards the door marked exit.

'Fresh air fresh air fresh air fresh air--' With that mantra repeating in his head, Kai pounded up the stairs and exploded out on to the roof.

"I can't take it anymore, my head hurts and I feel like barfing." Kai leaned against the roof's railings, feeling just a little better now that he was outside. But with that said, the blonde still felt like shit and was thankful that the sky was a bit dim today. If there was sunlight, it would've been like knives sticking into his eyes. As Kai moaned quietly to himself, he was unaware that there was someone else on the rooftop and that someone was slowly walking towards Kai.

Ray had come up to the rooftop to get some air and think. She had worked the whole day yesterday and gone home early just so she could relax. But she just couldn't seem to. Ever since Kai yelled at her yesterday, Ray had been feeling... odd, to say the least. Nobody, and that included her family, NOBODY had ever yelled at her before. Nobody had had to. She was the perfect child and if she was out of line, it was acceptable because she was Ray.

But then, Kai had yelled at her. It had been a shock, to say the least. And it had been... different. People 'suggested' things to Ray. They never yelled. And over the years, Ray had realized something. It seemed as if everybody held her at arms-length. Everybody asked her politely or told her things matter-of-factly. Everybody kept a detached air around her, even her bodyguards and personal assistants knew better than to cross that line with Ray. But Kai had not only crossed that line, he seemed to have completely disregarded it and had gotten right into her face to tell Ray what was wrong.

It had come to her that night, when Ray was curled up alone in her condo watching a movie alone, why what Kai had said struck her so much. Ray had always had people extolling her virtues... but nobody who cared enough to yell at her. As long as she was selling, as long as her music was good and the face she showed the public was the one they wanted to see, nobody cared how she really acted.

But Kai had scolded her. And strangely enough, she knew it was strange... but she felt incredible. Ray wasn't a masochist or anything... but... it had, for the longest time, felt like nobody cared about her enough to scold her. To want her to stop being the spoiled princess that she was. She was incredibly happy that someone cared about her enough to yell at her like that.

Ray approached the blonde, unsure of how to begin a conversation with the other singer. He obviously cared about her, but was he still angry at her for yesterday?

"Do you have a hangover?" Ray cursed herself for sounding so unsure, but at least her question got Kai's attention.

"R-Ray...-san." Kai blinked rapidly, pushing himself off the railings to face the Diva. "Why are you here?"

Ray's heart was pounding... why did she feel so nervous around this young man? He was short and brash. Not at all like some of the tall and suave men that had tried to win her heart. When had she completely fallen for this blonde?

"Um, actually," Kai rubbed his sweaty hands on his sweatpants. "I'm really sorry about the previous time we met. I have no hard feelings and I was just casually saying what came to mind, no, I mean that... um..."

His stuttering apology was just SO cute! Obviously Kai was having difficulties telling Ray how he felt about her and Ray had always been a go-getter. She didn't mind making the first move at all. With a pleased smile, Ray took the last few steps forward and placed her hands on his shoulders. The songstress did not see the look of utter shock on Kai's face as she leaned down to claim Kai's in a soft kiss.

---

endnote: And lets end this chapter here, right? :P I got other fandoms and fics to finish writing T_T Don't kill me, dear readers. I'm trying my best to write as fast as possible.


	5. Chapter 5

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 5

author's note: AKB48 is taking over my life!!!!! But it's alllll good.

Language!

Aniki -- Older brother

Hentai -- pervert

Kawaii -- cute

I~TE! -- ouch (pronounced ee-tay)

newhalf -- new half. Transexuals, in the case of Ai-chan and Fuu-chan, female-to-male transexuals

---

Kai's eyes had widened to the size of saucers as Ray's lips moved so slowly against his own. The blonde was drawing a blank as his brain shut down momentarily, overpowered by the furious hammering of his heart and the thundering rush of blood to his face. It felt like Kai was going hot and cold at the same time and this indescribable feeling of sheer ADRENALINE was overwhelming his limbs, confusing him---

"WAH!" Kai pushed Ray away, the confusing feelings disappearing along with Ray's lips, replaced by horror. "What are you doing?!"

Ray just smiled at him again, the smile managing to stun Kai.

'So this is the power of the Diva...' Kai's brain mused, the blonde shut down once more as Ray's lips pressed against his own, his lower lip caught in between Ray's own. He could feel his own lips responding minutely, TOTALLY against his will. But the soft tickling of the songstress' long eyelashes coupled with the electric feel of Ray's mouth was just SO inviting, so soft and warm and wet...

Ray was practically BUZZING from her connection with Kai. It felt like the first time she had gotten to number one on Music 10, except A MILLION times better. The feelings blossoming in her chest was like fireworks blowing up inside of her... the soft brush of Kai's nose against her cheek, the feel of his lips suddenly moving oh so carefully, as if tentatively exploring the feelings Ray had for Kai...

Carefully, the Diva moved her hand up to cup the back of Kai's neck, trying to deepen the kiss--but the moment was shattered when flashes from a camera blinded and interrupted her and Kai's moment. Kai pulling away from her so quickly was like... being in an extremely warm and comfortable lodge and then suddenly being thrown out into the middle of the bitterest, coldest winter storm.

"A scoop!" the oily-haired paparazzo screeched, running away from the scene. "A scoop, I've got it!"

'Shit!' Kai thought, seeing his bandmates there on the roof. They had seen everything! Thankfully, though, Kuu was in too much of a shock to do much except gape at Kai and Ray, while Riku ran after the paparazzo.

Paparazzo.

"OH SHIT!" Kai pushed Ray away roughly and managed to not only NOT budge the Diva much, but trip and fall on his ass. "What are you doing?!"

"We've been photographed, huh?" Ray's amused voice, showing none of the panic that Kai felt, scared Kai even more as he struggled back to his feet.

"Why are you saying that like it's not a big deal?" Kai wiped the gravel from off his sweatpants angrily, frustrated with the other singer's lacklustre reaction to compromising photo that had just been taken of them. "You're Japan's No. 1 Diva! This'll be scandalous! It won't look good for you!"

'Kai's looking out for me!' Ray was delighted. And Ray really, REALLY could care less if the photos were publicized. In fact, she would LOVE IT if the whole world knew that she and Kai were an item! Sarukawa-shochou had always been trying to pair her up with random good-looking men, even some of the Johnny boys, but she would have none of that now! Her heart belonged to one and ONLY one!

"It's fine, because I belong to Kai now!" Ray said blithely, not aware of the huge panic attack the announcement was causing Kai.

"HUH?!"

"I'm actually glad that a magazine or entertainment reporter took our photo." Ray continued, transferring the straps of her handbag from the crook of her elbow to her hands and swinging said handbag to-and-fro girlishly. "I belong to Kai and Kai belongs to me! And now, I can tell everyone!"

"I feel dizzy right now," Kai didn't know if it was the hangover or the overwhelming situation that he had just been put in. What the hell had just happened?

"What the hell?" Kuu, who had ducked back around the corner to peek at Kai and Ray, shook his head, flabbergasted. "How did things get like this?!"

"I'm..." Ray blushed girlishly. "really happy about those things you said to me yesterday."

THIS was why Ray was suddenly in love with her? Kai racked his brain. What HAD he said to her? All he remembered was cussing the Diva off for being so rude to that idiot--

"That?!" Kai gaped in astonishment.

Still eaves-dropping, Kuu's lip twitched in disbelief. "Happy?"

"I'm very successful in the industry," Ray explained, suddenly unable to look Kai in the eye. He was just so cute! "So no one dares to lecture me even when I'm being selfish."

"That's not something to be proud of," Kai muttered to himself, hoping that his heart would stop its hammering rhythym.

"But now I understand," Ray spun back to Kai, grasping the blonde's hand in both of her own, the very image of girlish delight. "Kai, you said those mean words to me because you care for me. Those words were your expression of love!"

"You've got it all wrong!" Kai blurted out, dashing away Ray's hand. "I was just telling the tru--"

The heartbroken look on Ray's face froze Kai. Ray's lower lip was quivering and the look of sheer sorrow on the Diva's face was unbearable.

"You mean to say... you really don't like me?" Ray's voice ended in a high squeak that surprisingly, sent a painful stab into Kai's heart.

"That is... I mean..." Kai panicked again. He hated it when girls cried! And if he made the Diva unhappy again... Saeko would KILL HIM! "You just... we have to... take things... slow?"

Ray sniffled, the soul-crushing disappointment she had felt before lifted and a grin nearly split her face in half. It wasn't an entirely charming smile, Sarukawa-shachou had told her, so she rarely smiled too wide, if at all. But Ray just couldn't help herself. "Kai...?"

"It's... I--um... well that is..." The blonde sputtered, trying to make everything right. He didn't want to die, he didn't want Ray all over him, and he didn't want THIS! "We don't really know each other..."

"Well, since we're dating now, we'll get to know each other over time!" Ray said hurriedly. THAT was why Kai was so unsure! He wanted to get to know her better! He really DID care about her! "Kai, I'm so happy!"

Before Kai could say anything to the contrary, Ray had thrown her arms around Kai's neck and attacked his lips with a fervour that the Diva never ever showed before with anyone else. Kai made her hot and cold at the same time, made her feel things that she had never felt before. Her body was hot against his and all she wanted to do, even though there was barely any space in between them, was make it so they were even CLOSER. Oblivious to Kai's flaying arms, Ray raised her hand, hoping to bury her fingers in Kai's soft-looking blonde hair--

A loud... screaming noise that was slowly getting louder registered somewhere in Ray's brain, but she paid no attention to it until with no warning at all, Kai was snatched away from her arms.

"Kai!" Ray looked around, dazed, finally focusing on one of Kai's bandmates--the source of afore-mentioned screaming--running away from her with Kai in tow. "Hey! That's mine!"

Kuu ran with Kai, down the stairs, back into the recording studio. Screaming, the both of them ran past people, not caring where they were running but just RUNNING. Finally, Kuu pulled open a door, saw that there was no-one inside, pushed Kai inside before jumping in also and shutting the door behind them.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Kai screamed, clutching his head in shock.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Kuu agreed, screaming.

"WHAT THE HELLLLL!!!!!!"

Getting that out of their system, Kai cutched at the front of Kuu's t-shirt and hissed at his dark-haired bandmate. "Why the HELL did it take you so long to save me?!"

"I was in shock!" Kuu protested. "You were kissing her!"

"She was kissing ME!" Kai shook Kuu, her eyes shining with anger. "Get that right! SHE kissed ME! Ughh... I *hatehatehatehateHATE* L!!!"

"Well, it's not really L if she thinks you're a guy--"

"SHUT UP!"

---

"So Jiro thinks you're like some superman," Kuu mused. The three were back at Kamonohatsu Entertainment Agency after a long, LONG day. The paparazzo had turned out to be Riku's childhood friend, Jiro. The oily-haired photog had been casing Ray for quite a while now and the shot he got would've been a bomb on the entertanment world if it had gone out.

"And shachou managed to delete the pictures he had of Kai and Ray kissing. All in all, a good day." Riku said cheerfully. It had all worked out. Saeko had prevented the pictures from gong out; explaining to Riku that Sarukawa-shachou might not like having to deal with that kind of publicity with Ray especially if he didn't orchestrate it himself. Sarukawa-shachou might make working hard for Persona if Ray's popularity took a dive. Also, Jiro hadn't recognized Asahi in her Riku disguise, which meant something to the tallest member of Persona. If even her childhood friend could be fooled, than it set Riku's mind at ease about people finding out that the male-group Persona was actually made up of three girls.

"Ahhh, you've got to be kidding me!" Kai groaned. After Kai had left the recording studio, he had bought a bottle of Listerine and had continuously been gargling to rid himself of the taste of Ray's french-vanilla lipgloss, which was persistantly staying behind! "Why's my first kiss gotta be with another woman?!"

"First kiss?" Kuu and Riku's interest perked up.

'Shit.' thought Kai.

"Ah... no... that... uh..."

"Acting as if you're experienced with men..." Riku grinned, sidling up on Kai's left. One late night conversation, they had been taking about the handsome Katsuyuki-san and Asahi's relationship with Jiro when Nami had started giving in-depth insight about men and how they thought. Which lead to Hinata and Asahi assuming that Nami was really experienced with men and Nami had never corrected them. The outspoken girl indeed had a lot of experience dealing with guys... because she had a lot of guy friends and her guys all treated her as one of them and talked freely about their relationships, thoughts and feelings with Nami.

Kuu sidled up on to Kai's right. "But you've never actually been in a relationship before?"

"Shut up!" Kai pushed them off. "There are a lot of people wooing me, it's just that I haven't picked anyone yet."

Kuu and Riku shared knowing looks. "Hmmm."

"Anyways," Kai was blushing furiously. "I don't wanna be a guy anymore." Undoing the bobby pins that kept Kai's hair in place, Nami pulled off her wig and threw it on the ground, her shoulder-length growth of hair immediately softening her features so there was absolutely no mistaking Nami for a boy.

"I'm not going to stay in the world of L," Nami proclaimed. "I'm definitely, DEFINITELY not doing this anymore!"

"There always will be scandals happening behind an artist's back," Saeko's smooth voice silenced the up-and-coming group.

"But lets not dwell on that!" Marilyn chirped cheerfully. "The date for the photo shoot for your upcoming single's cover has been finalized! In addition, the photographer is--"

"Tenka's Shiroyama Kichin." Saeko said smugly, a proud look on her face.

"Ten--" Riku's eyes widened as he recognized the name of the magazine. "Isn't that the most popular erotic magazine in the country?"

Nami's mouth fell open. Shiroyama--she KNEW that name! Again, because she had lots of guy friends and they had those types of magazines around all the time and discussed the contents of such magazines as if it was THE most important thing in the world!

"Shiroyama, the expert in erotica?!" Nami shook Riku in excitement then turned to Kuu and did the same thing. "That's awesome! That's TOTALLY awesome! Wait 'til the guys hear about this--"

"Nami, didn't you say you were quitting?" Kuu raised an eyebrow at Nami's enthusiasm.

"It's a completely different matter when you're gonna be photographed by Shiroyama Kichin!" Nami pulled Kuu's arm back and forth excitedly, eliciting a small pink smile from Kuu even though he was still leery of Nami changing her mind so much.

"Our ideal image is going to be perfect." Saeko announced, ignoring Nami's excited babbling. "Our Persona's first CD jacket."

The energy coming off of Saeko was infectious and the three member-group found themselves leaning forward. "In other words: Riku."

Riku nodded, fired up.

"Kai."

Nami couldn't contain her ear to ear grin.

"Kuu."

Kuu raised a fist, energized.

"The three of you are going to be nude!"

The three young singers paused, hoping that they had heard wrong. But a quick look at each other and they knew they had all heard the same thing.

"EHH?!"

"The radiant skins," Saeko started off, and Persona knew the president of Kamonohatsu Entertainment Agency was off in her own world again. "The sexiness of taking it all off! Exceeding the extremes of Michaelangelo's sculpture of David! The nude body of a man!"

The excitement was too much for Saeko as her frenzy started her hyperventilating.

"Shachou!" Marilyn bounced forward with a paper bag that she always seemed to have handy.

Persona was less worried about their shachou, who had these attacks everytime she had a stroke of 'brilliance', and more about what Saeko had just revealed to them about their photo shoot. "Nude?!"

---

Persona, now out of 'costume', were in their shared room furiously doing stretches, push-ups and sit-ups.

"We definitely won't be able to pull off nude!" Nami, who some might say was quite pessimistic, was actually just the most realistic one of the group. This was their reality: Persona could NOT do nude.

"It's obvious--" Hinata did a sit-up, "we'd expose--" another sit-up. "our female identities!"

"Even if we try our best," Asahi did a push-up, feeling the burn in her arms. "It's useless!"

They let out a huge sigh and flopped down to the ground. They all disagreed with the nude idea, not only because it exposed them as girls, but it just... EXPOSED them. Was that kind of CD jacket even allowed?! But they did believe in Saeko, no matter how sketchy she was some times and her disregard for their innocence when she did 'L' with Marilyn in places they would rather not think of... so the girls spent most of the night thinking about how they could POSSIBLY pose nude without exposing their identities. But no matter how they wracked their brains, there was NOTHING they could think of that could possibly do. So with troubled minds, the girls all went to sleep, hoping an answer would come to them in the morning.

Unfortunately, the answer didn't come at night. Instead, the girls were all plagued with nightmares. Hinata dreamed of Saeko and Marilyn doing 'L' things in the middle of a group of half-naked men, Nami dreamed of Ray chasing her and not being able to run away fast enough to avoid the songstress' assault and Asahi dreamed of Jiro taking pictures of her as she slowly took off her clothes...

"Last night I had a dream. And it was just... horrible." Kai shuddered, remembering his dream in vivid detail. All three were dressed in their stage costumes, the stylized suits that Saeko had had made for them. Today's shooting would be at a warehouse complex and as they made their way up the stairs to the second floor where the photographer was waiting for them, the feelng of dread increased with every step.

"Hinata had an awful dream, too." Kuu shuddered too.

Riku had a full case of the chills as he remembered his own dream. "Ditto."

Finally, scaling the stairs and arriving on the second floor, they pushed open the stairwell door and stepped into their shooting location.

"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu--"

"I refuse to take nude shots of men!" A slightly tubby man in tight red pants, black suspenders and a white shirt unbuttoned to mid-chest stormed by them with Marilyn following close behind him, wringing her hands. "It's true that I've taken up this project. But I, Shiroyama Kichin, even if I'm dying, will only take off women's clothes!"

"Kichin-san!" Marilyn groaned in frustration. Saeko had SAID that Kichin would do nude shots, but now the famous photographer was refusing to! He had claimed it was a momentary lapse of judgement on his part to agree to it, but now that he could think clearly, he absolutely REFUSED!

"Today I'm going to take photos of extremely beautiful men." Kichin grinned. He could work with this, even if his usual subjects were women. He could make this work!

"But that'll go against shachou's radiant concept--"

"It's okay, Marilyn." Saeko's voice interrupted her secretary. "Let's just leave it."

"Seriously?" Kai exchanged gleeful glances with his bandmates.

Kuu nodded, clasping his hands in front of his chest. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Kichin!"

"We don't have to take off our clothes now!" Riku grinned at Kai and Kuu, when suddenly, a big lighting fixture hit him.

"WAAAH!"

"Ahh, sorry--Aniki!" Jiro, Asahi's childhood friend gaped at the de-facto leader of Persona.

What was Jiro doing at the shoot? "Jiro! What are you doing here?"

Before Jiro could explain himself, Kichin's voice roared his displeasure. "YOU DUMBASS!" Rushing the blonde-haired part-time paparazzo, Kichin took a running leap and kicked Jiro right in the chest. "The equipment is more important than your life!"

"I'm really sorry!"

"I only let you come here to help me today because I heard that you have no money." Kichin towered over the fallen Jiro and stomped a foot down on the young man's chest. "I'm only having you as my special assistant for today! If the equipment is damaged in any way, I won't let you off this easy!"

"Hai!" Jiro squeaked, barely able to take a breath before Kichin let up and walked back to the shoot to fiddle with his camera.

"Your childhood friend sure has it tough." Kai leaned over to Riku to whisper sympathetically.

"That has nothing to do with me." Riku said, almost heartlessly. He was bothered by Jiro's abuse, but what could he do? They were at a job.

"Aniki," Jiro was suddenly in Riku's face again, breathing harshly. "I will support you!"

"This has nothing to do with me..." Riku repeated to himself as Jiro raced away to set up the equipment, fired up to help his 'aniki'. "NOTHING to do with me..."

"Alright, we're starting the photo shoot soon!" Kichin shouted. Riku didn't have the chance to dwell on Jiro's fate as they were quickly herded over to make up to touch up their appearance.

There were three seats set up for Persona in front of three mirrors as stylists came to help the boys with their make-up. These two stylists were hired by Marilyn not only because of their skill, but because of their ability to be absolutely discreet. They had been let in on the secret that Persona wore wigs when they were on stage and were under contract not to reveal that trade secret to anyone. Ai-chan and Fuu-chan, both 'newly-made' women, knew the importance of keeping secrets. They had worked for many famous celebrities and were one of the few skilled and trusted enough to tend to those celebrities who had 'special needs' in the make-up and styling department. The stylists introduced themselves quickly before immediately getting down to business.

"Oh, you have such pretty skin." Ai-chan, a buxom faux-blonde fluttered her eyelashes at Kuu, who smiled back, pleased at the compliment.

"Thank you! You have really beautiful skin too!" Kuu chirped back, making Ai-chan swoon a bit. This boy looked soooo cute, he was almost like a girl! Ai-chan LOVED gentle-looking men! Fuu-chan the buxom brunette, on the other hand, liked her men a bit rough but also tall and masculine so she gravitated towards Riku and Kai naturally.

"Well, we'll just be putting on a little powder for you, okay?" Fuu-chan patted Kai's cheek delicately. Kai, still thinking about his dream from last night, nodded distractedly. His stand-offish attitude only made Fuu-chan's heart beat a bit faster.

"He's like that all the time." Riku explained apologetically to Fuu-chan, thinking she was put-off by Kai's demeanour. Fuu-chan let out a dreamy sigh.

'Riku-sama is sooooo caring!' Fuu-chan nodded at Riku's explanation. 'And they didn't even give me or Ai-chan weird looks for being newhalf.' Really, the three-member group did NOT know their stylists were newhalf women, so they had no real reaction to it. The stylists did their jobs quickly and professionally and in five minutes, the boys were ushered over to Kichin for further direction.

"Okay." The famous photographer, not used to shooting male subjects, was drawing a slight blank. Pointing to the grand piano that had been brought to the warehouse as a prop, he ordered them to pose naturally around the piano and he was just going to take some test shots. The three then shuffled themselves over to the piano and started doing some generic poses they had under their belts. Once in a while, Ai-chan or Fuu-chan would hustle forward to get rid of some shine on their nose or fix their hair a bit. All through this, Kichin kept taking photos. But as he took these photos, a strange sensation was coming over him. An... excitement of sorts. When Kuu took off his jacket because of the heat from the bright lights, he felt almost... light-headed.

"Tilt your heads!" Kichin barked out the order, panting heavily. This... this was totally unexpected! Something strange was going on... why WAS he getting so excited?

"Why is he panting?" Kai grinned, speaking through his teeth. Riku and Kuu had noticed the panting too and were getting... nervous.

"Kichin-san," Jiro, who had been holding up a white board to help reflect the light on to the three idols better, voiced their concerns. "Are you alright?"

"This is weird," Kichin stood up, his entire body THROBBING with the same excitement he got from taking pictures of girls. "There's a reaction in my radar!"

"Radar?" Jiro looked down and eeped slightly when he noticed... something... bulging in Kichin's pants.

"STOP!" Saeko shouted in triumph. Everyone stared at her strangely as she started monologuing to Marilyn in a low, harsh whisper. "Kichin has always been like that when he's with women. He becomes really excited and starts panting fast and hard. No matter how hard the three of them try to disguise themselves as men, they won't be able to avoid Kichin's senses. Kichin will DEFINITELY get them to pose nude."

"As expected of shachou!" Marilyn clapped her hands in delight. Saeko was BRILLIANT! "You have everything planned!"

"What the hell... I should only have this reaction with women." Kichin stepped away from the camera, approaching the three 'men'. "Why do I have a reaction with the three of you? Are the three of you... really men?"

The question made the three in question break out in a cold sweat as they felt the eyes of the staff helping out at the photoshoot scrutinizing them.

"Shachou!" Kai mouthed the word, trying desperately to catch Saeko's eye. "SHACHOU!"

"They're too naive. To think I would actually help them..." Saeko was looking Kai directly in the eye from her position far, far from the three young men. "No way would I do that."

"Kichin-san, what are you saying?" Jiro laughed, finding the whole situation ridiculous. SURE, his Aniki was a bit delicate looking, but he was a man amongst men! Riku was awesome! "Aniki's a man amongst men--"

"SHUT UP!" Kichin snarled, still eyeing Persona strangely. "This is strange... something really strange is going on here."

"This is bad!" Kai grimaced.

Kuu nodded, speaking to his bandmates in a low, hushed tone. "At this rate, we'll definitely be exposed!"

Riku, seeing the distress his bandmates was in finally decided to throw in the towel. They needed serious help!

"Shachou! Shachou!" He shot a pleading look in the direction of his shachou--only to find that she wasn't there anymore. And neither was Marilyn! The instant they had taken their eyes off their manager and her secretary, the both of them had DISAPPEARED!!!

"She's gone... this shows that she never wanted to help us in the first place!" Kai's hands tightened to fists, immediately reverting to a familiar emotion: anger.

They needed to get out of this situation, quickly! They needed Kichin to continue thinking they were men, or else they'd have to do a NUDE SHOOT! And a nude shoot meant that they would be EXPOSED!

"Excuse me!" Riku was slightly panicked. "We need a break! Please let us have a break!"

Their break request was okay'd, since Kichin wanted a few moments to sort out his thoughts too. The boys were shown to a medium-sized dressing room with coffee, tea and juice. There were also some plates of light snacks, but the three couldn't appreciate the care that the staff at the photoshoot had put in for them.

"We have to conceal ourselves properly from that Kichin!" Riku huddled with his two bandmates, almost mindless with worry. Where the HELL was Saeko?!

"We've done our best! What else can we do?!" Kai listed off the things they had taken extra care to do that morning. "We wore our tightest binding tanktops, we're in our boxers, I have a roll of socks in my underwear--"

"You have a roll of socks in your underwear?" Kuu blinked. This was news to him! He quickly shook himself out of that line of thought though. The situation they were in was dangerous! "How are we going to convince Kichin that we're men--?"

"KAI!" They're discussion was cut off by the door banging open and someone yelling the blonde's name gleefully. Kai turned just in time to catch Ray in his arms.

"Woah!" Kai kept the grasping soungstress at arms' length, which was harder than it sounded. Ray was like an octopus! She had him and was just REFUSING to let go! "Ray! What are you doing here?!"

Unpeturbed by Kai's display of 'shyness', Ray continued trying to pull the struggling Kai into an embrace. "I heard you were here doing a photo shoot for your CD cover so I came to visit~!"

"Don't touch me!" Kai begged desperately. "Get back you hentai!"

Ray giggled at Kai's almost girlish modesty. "Kai, kawaiiiii!"

While Kai struggled with Ray, Riku suddenly got an idea.

"Oh, I have an idea!"

Quickly pulling Kai aside and placating Ray by telling the songstress they'd give Kai back in a bit, he outlined his plan. Kai was leery of ANY plan involving Ray, but his opinion changed when Riku told him what he had to do.

'I can do this!' Kai gave his groupmates a thumbs-up as they left to lure Kichin to their dressing room. 'This'll be a piece of cake!'

"Kaaaiiiii..." The way Ray said his name, the weight of the Diva and her arms wrapped around his neck from behind... and those two mounds of flesh pressing into Kai's back gave the shortest member of Persona the goosebumps!

'I can do this, I can do this, I can do this...' Kai repeated the mantra in his head, shivering at the feel of Ray's nose nuzzling at his ear. The Diva let out a contented sigh, Kai smelled so good... like soap... the scent was so calming and familiar... where had she smelled this scent before?

"Ray, we have to talk." Kai spun around to grab Ray's hands in his own, looking up at the Diva seriously.

"About?" Ray felt her heart skip a beat at the suddenly intense look Kai had on his face.

"Our relationship... if we're to have one." Kai replied. "I want you to sit down."

Ray's heart was hammering in her chest...they were going to talk? They were going to TALK! About their RELATIONSHIP! Kai lead Ray over to a chair and gently pushed her down into it but instead of immediately saying whatever he was going to say, Kai walked away from her and began to pace the room. The way he was treating this whole relationship, the seriousness of this whole situation made Ray happy. But Ray had to compose herself for her man! He was going to say something important!

Little did the Diva know Kai was just waiting for Riku and Kuu to come back with Kichin and it wasn't long before the blonde saw his friends and Kichin peek in to the room. Kuu waved a little bit and gave Kai a wink. That was the signal! It was time!

"What is it that you wanted to tell me?" Ray grinned at the small blonde's back. He whirled on her now, stomping over like he was on a mission. His hand shot out to grab hold of her chin.

"Stop grinning and listen up!" Kai's voice was a low, dangerous growl. Ray couldn't help smiling at Kai again... he was so close to her she could feel the heat coming off his body! His thumb absentmindedly stroking her jawline made her want to purr, but he wrenched his hand back before she could emit a sound, fire in his eyes.

"You gotta understand, if you wanna be my woman, you--you must not sleep earlier than me!" Kai racked his brain for the most outrageous demands he could think of. "You must not wake up later than me! Your cooking must be good and you haveta always look beautiful!"

"I can do all of that, no problem!" Ray sing-songed. Was that it? Ray was notoriously hard-working and the Diva was pretty sure that her cooking skills were top-notch too! And wasn't Ray the most popular, the most beautiful, the NUMBER ONE idol in Japan right now?

"You have to do better than that!" Kai slapped his hand on the table hard, trying to keep on the facade of the arrogant asshole boyfriend, but his plan hit a snag as pain lanced through his finger and his face contorted into a pained grimace.

"Kai?" Ray's joy disappeared and the worry she felt was... indescribable. What was wrong? How did he hurt himself? WHERE was Kai hurt? How could she help?!

"I~TE!!!!" Kai howled, held up his hand and Ray was able to see that there was a small thumb tack buried in his pointer finger. The blonde wrenched it out and threw it on the ground angrily. "Why the HELL is there a thumb tack here?!"

"Are you alright?" Ray was on her feet so quick, her chair toppled backwards. Grabbing Kai's hand, Ray inspected her beloved's injured finger, feeling an immeasurable amount of relief when she saw that there was only a pinprick of blood to show where he had hurt himself.

'Stupid Kai, I was so worried!' Ray breathed a mental sigh of relief, looking at the young blonde man with a certain amount of fondness. 'I'll have to tease him a bit for scaring me like that...'

"W-What are you going to do?" Kai's spider-sense was suddenly off the charts as Ray pinned him with her bedroom eyes. But it was the thing she did next that short-circuited something in his brain. It all happened in slow motion in Kai's mind, but he just couldn't get his body to obey him! Completely frozen, he couldn't pull his finger away as Ray captured his wounded digit within the warm, wet confines of her mouth. The suction, the heat, the feel of Ray's tongue swirling around Kai's finger was making the blonde extremely light-headed.

"Let go!" Kai pleaded, his voice cracking slightly. "Let go! Let gOooo..."

Ray did, her mouth turned up in a small pink smile as she slipped her tongue out to give his finger a final playful parting lick. She had only sucked on Kai's fingers for a few seconds, but it had felt like HOURS of strange confusing feelings accompanied by the loud roar of waves...

"All better?"

"What the hell!" Kai clutched his hand to his chest, his heart literally thundering a mile a minute--SHIVERS running up and down his spine, spreading goosebumps all over his skin and making the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention.

"Kaiii..." Ray approached the blonde, bright and beautiful, sexy and dangerous. Kai found himself locked in that half-lidded gaze again, turned his head around to desperately search out his bandmates. The sound of his compatriots and Kichin scrambling off made Kai curse them extensively in his head. He cursed even more when he noticed that a table was in the way of his escape and suddenly realized he had made a fatal mistake--breaking eye contact.

"DAMN--"

Ray had him trapped between the table and herself in no time, her arms on either side of Kai's body, her face, too close for comfort as her nose nudged against his cheek softly.  
"R-Ray--no!" Kai squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the inevitable. Seeing this reaction, Ray paused and smiled softly at the young man. He was just so cute. Through his bluster and energy, Kai was just a shy young man who had managed to capture a lonely singer's heart. And she just couldn't seem to keep her hands off him, but she... had to try.

"Okay." Ray said relunctantly and gave Kai's cheek a chaste kiss, settling to rest her arms around his neck in a loose embrace. "I don't know why, I just can't keep my hands off you."

"Hentai." Kai muttered, cracking one eye open to look at the songstress. Ray gave a pretty pout.

"Only for you!"

"Don't even say that!" Kai blushed even more. "What if someone heard? Then they'll know me and you are sort of... and then there'll be trouble!"

The smile died from Ray's face as something occurred to her, something quite troubling. "Kai..." Ray was on the verge of tears, just the thought of this being true. "Are you... a-a-ashamed of people finding out we'd be together?"

The quick 180 that Ray had just turned left Kai completely and utterly bewildered. WHAT the HELL was Ray going on about?  
"What?" Kai blinked, unable to think of anything to say.

"Y-you're ashamed of me." The frown on Ray's face was growing. "Why? Am I not good enough? I can do ALL of the things you want me to do--except... is it because I'm not beautiful enough?!"

"Huh?!" Now Kai was BEYOND confused. What had just happened?

"That's it, right?" Ray spun away, hugging herself close. Ray knew, without a doubt, that she was beautiful. But the thought of Kai thinking she was ugly in any way, that she didn't fit his ideal... devastated her. Maybe he wanted someone cuter? Someone smaller than him? Ray had been the awkward tall child when she was young, but now her height worked to her advantage. But maybe Kai liked smaller women?

"NO!" Kai shouted in frustration. What the HELL was going on? And what the hell was Ray saying?! "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on! Why would you even think you weren't beautiful enough?! Some guys would crawl through mud to have you just smile at them!"

"Really?" Ray's voice was comically squeaky. Ray was, but would DIE before she'd admit it, a LITTLE self-conscious about her smile. Anybody would be if your manager kept telling you not to smile so much because, and to quote Sarukawa-shachou 'because your smile's too big and it's not attractive'. "Do YOU like my smile?"

"Yeah!" Kai blurted out without thinking. "I think you have the best smile in the world!"

"Kai!" Ray was on Kai like an octopus again and Kai was desperately struggling to keep Ray at arm's length.

"Get off me!" Kai pushed at Ray again, unsure of how he got into this situation but sure of the fact that he needed to get out of it RIGHT AWAY!

---

endnote: And that's the end of this chapter. Whew! I'm on a roll!


	6. Chapter 6

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 6

author's note: And this chapter starts seriously deviating from the series with additional scenes and DUNDUNDUN! guests!

---

"Gaaaah..." Kai shuddered, patting his pockets desperately for salt. He needed to throw some over his shoulders to ward off the miasma of evil Ray brought along every time she came to see Kai. It had taken a while to convince Ray to leave and thankfully, the Diva's handlers (that she had managed to give the slip to before) had tracked her down and helped Kai push/drag her away. But it was all worth it if Kichin believed that they were men. Joining her band mates again, she looked at them eagerly. "So, is Kichin-san convinced that I'm a man amongst men?"

His two bandmates looked at him unhappily and shook their heads. "Failed, Kai."

"Mission failed?!" Kai gaped, feeling like everything he had done before was for nothing. He had let Ray violate his finger with her tongue! He had let Ray grope him! He had let Ray nuzzle her nose in that spot behind his ear that gave him a full case of the chilly-willies! And all of that WAS FOR NOTHING?!

"Well, during the first half, Kai displayed his manliness perfectly..." Riku was pouting at Kai, willing the hot-tempered blonde to calm down. If looks could kill, Kai would've already killed Riku and Kuu ten times over!

"But," Kuu piped up. "after Kichin-san saw Ray sucking on your finger, he panted even harder!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Kai blurted out. "I had a hard enough time convincing Ray to leave! I refuse to do this again!"

"But if we can't hide the truth from Kichin.." Kuu trailed off. All three of them knew what would happen. They would be totally exposed!

Speak of the devil, Kichin walked past them, scrutinizing them from head to toe. "This is strange..."

The three young men huddled together fearfully, watching Kichin as he disappeared into the washrooms nearby. That was when Riku got his stroke of brilliance. And looking around, he had the perfect tools to quickly fashion his tool!

"I have another idea!" Riku quickly outlined the plan to the boys, knowing they had limited time to implement this plan. A quick game of jankenpon later and a relunctant Kuu was pushed in the directions of the washrooms.

"I dun wanna, I dun wanna, I dun wanna!" Kuu screeched, dragging his heels.

"You lost in janken! So you got no choice!" Riku had quickly put his item together and stuffed it inside Kuu's jacket while Kai pushed Kuu towards the washrooms.

"Hinata hates these open-door toilets the most!" Kuu struggled against the blonde but felt himself slowly getting pushed forward as Riku joined Kai in pushing Kuu to the toilets.

"Stop stalling and GET IN!" Kai and Riku gave a last shove, propelling Kuu into the washrooms. If Kai had to go through everything he had to with Ray, Kuu can suffer a little bit in the washrooms! Kuu almost stumbled during his forward momentum but managed to come to a stop before he hit a wall. His sudden entrance surprised Kichin, who gave a little start at Kuu's appearance.

"Osu!" Kuu said carefully.

"Oh." Kichin nodded carefully. Kuu crept over to a urinal a few spots away from Kichin, cringing at the thought of stepping on pee. The feeling of someone watching him made Kuu look over to Kichin. The older man quickly retreated, but he had been leaning over in hopes of catching a glimpse of Kuu's equipment.

'Here goes...' Kuu unzipped the front of his pants and hid his 'equipment' in his hands. Not long after, a slow drizzle of water came flowing out, the soft tinkling sound of liquid hidding porcelain filled the suddenly quiet washroom. After Kuu was done, he shook a few times, tucked his 'equipment' back in and zipped up.

"Osu!" Kuu said cheerfully then skipped over to the sink to wash his hands. Cheerfully, he was out the door and back in the arms of his band.

"How was it?" Riku questioned eagerly.

"Hinata did it perfectly!" Hinata brought out the smal bottle of green tea and the plastic tube that had been forced through the lid of the bottle. Pressing it into Riku's hands, the leader of the group quickly disposed of it in a large empty metal barrel that was currently being used as a garbage bin and not a moment too soon, as Kichin stepped out of the washroom looking seriously puzzled.

"It's true, look!" Kai nodded over to the famous photographer. "He's stopped panting."

But Kai had spoke too soon as Kichin started panting again, like a stubborn motor that just refused to die.

"Not again, mission failed!" Kai's voice held an edge of desperation to it. It was gonna be the end for them!

"Nude!" Kichin exclaimed, catching everybody's attention. "NUDE! Lets take some nude photos!"

Kichin had enveloped the three young men in a bear hug and started pushing them towards the grand piano they were supposed to be posing in front of.

"Stop that!" Kai dug his heels in but it was impossible to stop Kichin's forward momentum.

"I don't wanna!" Riku screeched.

"Let go!"

"I don't wanna!"

"Hentai!"

"Wait a second. We're guys!" Riku craned his neck back to look at Kichin. "Why are you still doing this?"

"Male or female, it doesn't matter any more!" Kichin exclaimed. He had been struck by a vision! Kai and Ray's little scene in the change room had opened his eyes to the possibilities of men, especially gentle men like the boys that made up Persona! It would be subtle, it would be powerful... their skin would glisten against the piano, the light reflecting off their smooth frames... he *could* make this work! Saeko was right, it would be magnificant!

"The three of you have made me, Shiroyama Kichin, go crazy with desire!" Kichin grabbed Kai's jacket and practically ripped it off the blonde's body then went for Kuu's jacket, throwing Kai's aside.

"Everything is perfect!" Kichin's eyes searched out Jiro and pinned him with a look. "Change the lens! Stylists, make sure they're ready to bare it all! We're gonna do this!"

"Got it!" Jiro and the stylists saluted Kichin, his commanding personality not letting them do anything else except obey.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Kai hissed at his fellow bandmates. "We can't do nude! I'm... I'm quitting Persona!"

"What?!" Riku and Kuu gaped at the blonde.

"Kai!" Riku's disappointment was evident and Kai tried not to let that bother him, though it did.

"The idea of making women into men was already a mess!" Kai argued. "And now they want us to do nude? It's impossible! They just want us to quit, right? They wanted to give us hope, then humiliate us by pulling the carpet out from right under our feet!"

"Hinata will strip." Kuu said softly.

"What?" Kai's eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Hinata's afraid of that kind of person losing their temper." Kuu whispered. "Hinata can do it!"

"I'm not letting you do that!" Kai said furiously. "Are you insane? You hate doing stuff like this for perverted men!"

Riku stilled Kuu's hands on his tie, trying to sooth the young man. "It'll be over for us if you take off your clothes, remember? And if you don't want to do it, we won't let anybody do this to you!"

"Yeah!" Kai growled. "We'll walk! I'll go first!"

"Wait a second!" Riku gripped at Kai's arm, stopping the other man. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"I'm GOING. That's what I'm doing!" Kai pushed at Riku, but the taller boy grabbed hold of Kai, struggling to keep the blonde there.

"If you want to do it, do it alone!" Kai snarled. Their fight had drawn an audience as everyone, including Kichin, stared at the scene unfolding before them, not knowing what was going on since they didn't hear the beginning of the argument. They only heard that Kai wanted to leave. Everyone was frozen to the spot except for one person.

"Stop fighting!" Jiro ran at them and pushed the two away from each other. He hated to see his Aniki and his Aniki's bandmates fighting! Jiro's shove was unexpected and Riku tipped over, falling on his behind.

"Aniki!" Jiro was instantly sorry, but it was too late for him as someone had caught the tail-end of that.

"You..." A growl from the stairwell caught Riku's attention. There was Katsuyuki-san, surrounded by his assistants and looking furious. Rushing forward, he had grabbed Jiro by the front of his shirt and punched the Asahi's childhood friend before anybody could stop him. "What are you doing with Riku?!"

All Riku could do was watch as Katsuyuki-san's assistants pulled the young director back, who was still raring to go and roaring at them to let him finish Jiro off. All Riku could think of as he watched Katsuyuki-san fight against the people holding him back was how incredibly sexy a man could be when he was all fired up to fight for something--

'That's it!' Riku got up to his feet, glaring at his bandmates. He could make this work!

"Don't screw with me!" Riku snarled, storming towards Kai and Kuu. Grabbing the two by the fronts of their shirts, he shoved them back, hard, making them trip and fall to the ground. All eyes were on them again, Ai-chan and Fuu-chan squealing quietly and hugging each other for comfort. Kichin, camera in hand, watched the young men. A strange... feeling was coming over him. It was different from the feeling he got from them before. It was a different kind of excitement that called to him and made his blood boil. Bringing the camera up, he took an experimental shot, capturing the moment. It was powerful, with Riku standing over his two fallen bandmates, his body radiating violence and the stunned disbelief on the other two's faces. It was priceless.

His back to their audience, Riku looked down at his friends, hoping they'd understand.

"You're gonna give up that easily?" Riku goaded them, trying to convey what he meant with his eyes. "Come on! Where's your fighting spirits?!"

Kai and Kuu exchanged looks, then both of them got up and rushed Riku, tumbling him to the ground.

"Is that all you got?" Riku got back up, laughing. "Bring it!"

All hell broke loose as the three young men started fighting in earnest, tussling amongst each other as the camera flashed again and again. Kichin stood at just the edge of the fight, yelling at anybody who tried to stop Persona's in-fighting. This was beautiful! It was perfect! The look in their eyes as they sized each other up, their faces bruised and bloodied. It was beautiful!

The fight didn't last long though, as Kai raised a hand in defeat after a few minutes, leaning against the grand piano and panting hard. Riku, seeing that the blonde was out of the fight, collapsed to one knee, feeling more than a little bit exhausted. Kuu had dragged himelf to the piano bench and the discordant notes from the piano told them Kuu had made the keys his temporary head rest.

"Yes!" Kichin's camera kept flashing as he skirted around the three members of Persona, sprawled in a perfect scene around the piano. "Beautiful! This is it! This is the shot!"

With Kichin shouting excitedly for his staff to fix the lighting and get different filters and lenses for his shot, Kai gave Riku a smile.

"You're brilliant."'

Kuu laughed hoarsely. "Yeah, Riku. You're awesome."

"Thanks, guys." Riku groaned as Kichin scurried forward to reposition them around the piano.

"Come on," Kai held out a hand to Riku and pulled his friend to his feet.

---

"Kai." The three were in their change room, tending to their own cuts and bruises. It was just the three of them and it was finally the end of a day that had been way too long.

"Yeah?" Kai looked up from the small mirror he was using to assess the damage to his face. Thankfully, he only had a bruised lip. All three had pulled their punches and tried to aim a bit when the target was each other's faces.

"What's with you?" Kuu's quiet query caught Riku's attention too. "I mean, we're trying our hardest... and... and you just keep giving up when things get hard."

Riku turned in his seat, wanting to add his two cents. "Yeah. I thought you were all for this, Kai. We started together before Kuu and you've said you wanted to quit twice already--"

"It's just--" Kai frowned, shredding the tissue in his hand he had been using to dab at his lip. "It's just... I don't want to. You know? I don't wanna do things that aren't... me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." It was so hard for the blonde to get the words out. "You know, I always wanted to be an idol. Always. But it was always hard. I tried to keep my auditions a secret, but some of my classmates found out when they saw my day planner. Everybody told me that I wasn't idol material and I would never be. And even my family laughed when I told them what I wanted to be."

Kuu and Riku sat there quietly, listening to Kai pour his heart out. "They kept saying 'Nami's too boyish' or that 'Nami's not pretty enough' or that I wasn't interesting enough for people to idolize. So I don't ever wanna stray from who I really am. This whole outfit isn't me. I want to be an idol, but I want to do things my way and let people see who I am. I want to be able to give some little girl out there an example of what you can do if you stay true to yourself. I want her to look at me and go 'hey, if that boring, uninteresting, ugly girl can do it, why can't I?'. I know I have to compromise a bit with the situation we're in and I've been nothing but trouble. I'm sorry, guys. I'm... trying my best. But some times I'm like this cuz... I'm just an idiot for being so stubborn, I guess."

There was silence after that heavy confession. So this was Nami's story?

"We don't think you're an idiot." Riku broke the silence.

Kuu nodded, agreeing with Riku. His soft, pleasant voice soothing Kai's ruffled emotions. "I think you're interesting."

"And we think you're boyish--" Kai's glare made Riku and Kuu giggle a bit. "But you can be surprisingly girlish too. And we like you whether you're boyish or girlish."

"I think you're really cool, Kai." Kuu said sincerely. He really, really did. Kai was trying his best and under all of that negativity Kai spoke of before, Kuu knew how hard it was not to be tempted to give up. But Kai persevered. Kai had things that he hated, like all things 'L', yet he was trying his best in his situation with Ray and shachou and Marilyn. The blonde was unbending when it came to things that he felt passionate about like staying true to himself, and Kuu admired that.

"It's good and all to be true to yourself, but we all have to give up something to do this." Riku explained quietly.

"I know." Kai put his hands on his thighs and lowered his head, accepting Riku's admonishments. "It's an image I have to cultivate. We're 'Persona'. Our name implies that we aren't who we say we are. I'll try my best not to disappoint you guys--"

"You didn't disappoint us." Riku shook his head. "We just didn't know why you were coming from and you did a lot, helping us with Ray."

"Yeah," Kuu giggled and shared a grin with Riku. "Kai, you're soooo manly!"

"Shut up!" Kai squealed, slapping them girlishly while shrieking. Kuu and Riku shielded their heads, also shrieking and giggling until there was a rap at the doors.

"Ahem," Riku coughed, deepening his voice again. "Who's there?"

"If it's shachou..." Kai narrowed his eyes at the door, his voice a low growl. Kuu nodded, a slight snarl on his lips. The boys were still pretty worked up from the fight.

"Riku?" Katsuyuki's voice floated through the door. "Can I come in?"

"Ooooo.." Two pairs of eyes watched Riku slyly.

"Stop it!" Riku hissed then raised his voice a bit. "Come in."

"Well, we're going to talk to Kichin about those pictures." Kai grinned, arm around Kuu's waist and Kuu's arm around Kai's shoulders. Companionably, they strolled out of the room together, snickering as Katsuyuki side-stepped them into the room.

"Riku." Katsuyuki watched the young man with the red-streaked hair turn his back to him. For some odd reason, the young director felt a painful stab in his heart when the young idol did that. His heart hurt even more when the young man let out a small noise of discomfort while tending to his bruised cheek.

"Let me help you." Katsuyuki-san strode forward and pulled a chair over. Taking a new piece of cotton swap and water, he dabbed at Riku's face gently. As he helped Riku clean his face, Katsuyuki could feel himself getting a bit angry at the young man and his inventory of bruises and cuts.

"Thank you." Riku coughed. "You know, I really thought of running away. But... seeing you fighting, it got me going too... so... I'm going to fight this battle to the very end. It's hard, but I'm going to keep trying."

"Stop it." Katsuyuki-san packed away the bandages angrily. Was this what would happen? Riku would get hurt? Katsuyuki-san didn't want that! "This is why I worry about you! I can't get you out of my mind. That's why, earlier on, I rushed in to protect you when you were attacked."

What did he mean? Riku blinked, confused. "Katsuyuki-san?"

"Ah, I mean--" Katsuyuki panicked a bit. What had he just said?! "You're our company's merchandise, you know? As director of Sunny Music, it's expected that I show concern for you."

"Oh." Riku was slightly disappointed. He had thought, for just a second, that Katsuyuki-san was saying something else.

"Don't leave marks on your face, okay?" Katsuyuki sighed, looking at the young man. "Seems like not only Kai's hot-tempered, you're a fighter too."

Riku pouted. "Don't group me in with Kai!"

Katsuyuki laughed and patted the singer gently on the shoulder. "You guys are making my life a lot more interesting. I'll see you around, my schedule's packed today and I just wanted to see if you--you guys were doing alright. You guys. Well... uh... see ya."

It had been a long day indeed and right after their photo shoot, they had a tv recording to go to. It was just a small tv program that talked about young, upcoming idols and Persona had been invited on. Concealer worked wonders for their bruises although the hosts of the show still noticed their injuries and pointed them out. Kuu took that opportunity to talk a little bit about the photo shoot and plug in news about their upcoming single. They were even invited to perform it!

All through this, Saeko watched from the sidelines with Marilyn, her eyes sparkling with pride.

"Those poor boys, they've had a long day." Marilyn cooed.

"But they learned a lot, didn't they?" Saeko leaned over to whisper in Marilyn's ear, giving the secretary's ear a little nibble. Just a little nibble since they were on work time, to hint at things to come tonight. "Today, they've learned to deal with problems that could arise regarding their disguises. And they've learned to deal without me. We can't be there for them 24/7 and in emergencies, well, now I know they can handle them."

"Shachou is amaaaaazing." Marilyn sighed dreamily. And while Saeko and Marilyn watched the boys attentively, cultivating the young talents; someone else was keeping a close eye on their progress too.

"I don't like this." Keiji Sarukawa was in his office, taking a look at the tv program schedules. The new group, Persona, was getting a lot of coverage. Also, they were still getting publicity with that little suicide stunt at the Indies. The news stations were using this to highlight the state of young people nowadays, mentioning Persona a lot and their successful diffusing of the situation. Keiji wished that girl in the pink had really offed herself, then Persona wouldn't be getting all this attention. Already, two of the young talents in his own agency had been pushed aside for segments about Persona.

"That'll change soon..." Keiji muttered, shooting off some nicely worded emails to several of those television stations. Ray was always a seller and ratings went through the roof whenever she appeared on any of those programs. He would just hint that Ray might have made an appearance with her kouhais if their segments were still on. The producers at those stations would know what steps to take to just have a CHANCE at the elusive Diva gracing them with her presence. But of course, Ray would have to be convinced to sit there with her juniors. Keiji couldn't really control his products that well so whenever they got too rowdy, he would cut them off and bring in a new talent. Ray was special, however. She was wildly popular and had brought in more revenue for him than

'And her attachment to Kai is... worrying.' Keiji frowned a bit at the news that was circulating amongst the staff. Soon, it'll get out to the entertainment news hounds and then there would be trouble. He'd have to keep Ray busy so she couldn't slip her handlers any more and go off looking for the blonde from Persona...

It wasn't just the blonde that was worrying. If it was just one of the members of that group, the situation could be dealt with. But unfortunately, the whole group was a problem. Riku of Persona was highly charismatic without knowing it, charming the hell out of the staff and the higher-ups that had met the disarming young man. Hell, it seemed even the young director of Sunny Music, notorious for having a different favourite person every DAY, was slightly attached to the young Riku. Kuu, the newest addition, was also trouble. Keiji had stood outside the room they had booked for recording and heard a bit of what Kuu had composed. It was... breath-taking, really, how good it was.

His computer suddenly chirped out a melody and Keiji smiled upon seeing a reply to the email he had sent out. His smile widened to a grin as he read over the email quickly. The producers at so-and-so station understood Ray's busy schedule and would try to accomodate Monkey Productions... they would also push Persona's TV appearance to their late-night slot.

"Excellent," Keiji chuckled to himself and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on his desk as a prize. The next few seconds saw similar replies from all the people he had sent emails out to. If Keiji was asked about what he thought about Persona's future in the entertainment world, he would have to say that they would be like a shooting star... its appearance brief and possibly brilliant but noticed by few.

---

Riku found himself daydreaming more and more lately. And usually, his dreams featured the handsome Katsuyuki-san. He didn't know why, but he found himself thinking about the tall young director all the time.

"No, no... focus." Riku muttered to himself, doing up the buttons on his shirt.

"Yo, stop zoning out." Kai, in his tanktop and pulling on his trousers, grumbled. Kai was definitely not a morning person and extra grumpy in the morning especially since they've been staying up late in the recording studios. They would have to stop by a radio station for an interview, then Ai-chan and Fuu-chan would be waiting for them at TV Tohto for make-up and THEN a mid-day show. And all of this would be done in a shirt and a tie which the blonde had discovered, he abhorred. Kai had found out that his style of dress leaned more towards the comfortable bagginess of jeans and t-shirts. It would be a hectic morning and Kai was hoping there was nothing after the filming. "Today's an important day."

"Yes, that's right." Kuu had dark circles under his eyes and he was swaying side to side unsteadily as he buttoned up his shirt. The late nights were hitting Kuu especially hard since he was used to early bedtimes before he became an idol. But Kuu was doing his best! "Um... what's happening again?"

"It's the release date of our CD." Kai let out a huge sigh of exasperation.

"So this is the CD pamphlet that's gonna be distributed in music stores." Riku, Kai and Kuu had just gotten a copy of the pamphlet the night before, hot off the press. They were finally somebody! They were doing this! "I'm not dreaming, am I?"

Riku pinched himself experimentally and Kai and Kuu quickly joined in in pinching their leader.

"That hurts! It hurts!" Riku slapped their hands away. "Stop that!"

"Of course you're not dreaming." Kai grinned, suddenly excited. It was hitting all of them, in fact. Their CD debut! Their first single! "Lets go buy a copy after work!"

"For sure!" Kuu and Riku jumped up and down excitedly. "Lets go! Lets definitely go!"

The sounds of a whip cracking made all of them flinch and try to hide behind each other for shelter. They all KNEW what that sound was, they had all experienced the sharp sting of the whip and had developed an abject FEAR of the object.

"The three of you better hurry up!" Saeko barked, standing at the entrance of their room. "Everyone knows rookies arrive earlier at their appointments at least 20 minutes early!"

"H-HAI!" The three scurried around grabbing shirts, ties and jackets before rushing out of the room, eager to be away from Saeko and the punishment she was so happy to inflict on them with her whip. Within minutes, the boys were sitting in the back of a dark van with tinted windows and Marilyn was driving them to the radio station.

"Okay, remember," Saeko turned around to pin the three members with a piercing look. "You boys have to watch what you say, since you're on live. There are no second takes. Talk about your CD and try your best to be INTERESTING."

"But relax," cooed Marilyn, her eyes studiously on the road. "have fun."

"Try to be as natural as possible." Saeko added. "but not TOO natural. You have to be aware that if you say something stupid--"

"You're scaring us!" Kuu whined.

"Because you SHOULD BE SCARED." Saeko, scary face in place, was freaking out Persona.

"Shachou," Marilyn sighed. It was going to be a long ride to the radio station. Indeed, by the time they had arrived, all three members of Persona were significantly freaked out.

"We can do this." Riku exited the parked van on shaky legs. "We can do this..."

Kai exited the van, looking pale and unwell, Saeko's scare tactics having worked splendidly on the blonde. Kuu also, didn't look well but for another reason altogether. Kuu was a nervous eater and when he was nervous, he needed snacks.

"I'm hungry." Kuu announced. That jolted everyone out of their thoughts and Kai and Riku were at his side attentively.

"You didn't eat, did you?" Kai was glad to concentrate on someone else's problems instead of her own.

"Kuu, you have to eat breakfast, you know?" Riku scoffed. "It's the most important meal of the day!"

"I think the radio station might have some stuff set out for you guys." Marilyn placed a finger to her chin thoughtfully, then glanced at her wristwatch. "And we have plenty of time for a little something to eat!"

"OSU!" The three raised their hands in the air in excitement.

"Well, get something to eat." Saeko tsked. "I'm going to meet with some people and I'll come get you guys later."

The small group entered the building, of which the 33rd floor housed Tokyo's most popular radio station, Toki-Wave FM. Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, GLAY, SMAP; and even foreign stars like Avril Lavigne and one time, Michael Jackson! Arriving on their floor, the elevator doors opened to a reception area where the girls manning the front greeted them politely and one of them lead them to a waiting area where drinks and refreshments had been set out for guests. As they walked through a long corridor, bright lights off to the side caught Kuu's attention. In a side corridor that lead to the kitchen, an American-style vending machine with American-style snacks beckoned to the young man.

"Mmmm..." Kuu skipped over gleefully, forgetting totally that he should be following his friends. Licorice, gummy bears, sour peaches... all the candy that Kuu couldn't get in Japan, was there in that vending machine! And... was it possible... yes, it was... JOLLY RANCHERS!

Before Kuu could get to the machine, however, someone had stepped in front of him and blocked his way. Kuu skidded to a stop, looking at the back of the person in front of him. She was pretty tall, with short, light brown hair. She had on a pair of tight ripped jeans tucked into a pair of fashionably-worn cowboy boots, a cream-coloured peasant top on and necklaces and earrings that made a nice jangling sound every time she moved.

"What to eat, what to eat..." The mystery girl took off her sunglasses and squinted at the goodies inside the vending machine.

"Ano..." Kuu smiled at the woman when she lookd back at him. "What are you looking for? Something salty? Sweet? Sour?"  
"Hmm... salty." The woman hung her sunglasses from the front of her shirt.

"Well, these are good." Kuu pointed to the dill and sour cream potato chips then to the hickory smoked potato sticks. "Or these, if you're looking for salty."

"What are you getting?" The woman asked him curiously. Kuu grinned and pointed to the last pack of jolly ranchers in the vending machine. "These! My dad brought some back for me on a trip to America and since we don't sell them in Japan, it's hard to get!"

"Are they really good?"

"They're the best!" Kuu grinned. The woman nodded, taking out a 500yen coin and putting it in the machine, then depressing the button for the jolly ranchers.

"Hey!" Kuu pouted. "I thought you said you wanted something salty!"

"You convinced me to get these." The devilish woman chuckled as she slowly unwrapped a jolly rancher and popped it in her mouth. She made a truly obscene face to show how much she enjoyed the taste of the candy. "Mmmm... It's sooooo good!"

"You're a horrible woman! You're horrible!" Kuu blurted out, almost near tears.

"There, there." The woman patted the top of Kuu's head and the tearful young man jerked his head away. "Would you like one?"

Kuu immediately brightened. "Yes, please!"

"Too bad." In slack-jawed disbelief at the sheer EVILNESS of that short-haired woman, Kuu watched her walk away. It was in this state of stunned anger that Kai and Riku found Kuu.

"Kuu, why'd you wander off?" Riku scolded and was startled to see tears at the corner of Kuu's eyes. "Wha-what'd I say?!"

"Did you get lost?" Kai patted Kuu on the back sympathetically which immediately set off the young man. Bursting into angry tears, Kuu's sob-filled angry babblings were barely understandable.

"You.. candy... what?" Riku frowned, confused as he tried to comfort his friend.

"Jolly ranchers? Evil... woman?" Kai exchanged looks with Riku and they both shrugged. "Come on, Kuu! Pull yourself together, we're on in five!"

Kuu accepted some tissues from Riku, dabbing at his eyes and blowing his nose, still very angry at having his treat stolen. Who the hell was that woman?! How could she have done this?! But he had to put all that aside... they were on!

The recording room was small and there were three chairs set up for them with headphones and mics, with two windows looking into the recording room. One window was connected to the control room and the other window was situated just beside the control room window behind Kai and Riku while Kuu was seated right beside the DJ and able to look out the window. The DJ greeted them quickly, introducing herself as Oshima Mai then ran the boys through a quick test of the equipment and then got the signal from one of the techs in another room that they had ten seconds before they went live.

"And we're back on Toki-Wave FM, Tokyo's number one music station!" Oshima Mai sounded quite professional. "Today we have Persona stopping in for a visit, despite this being a busy day for them since it's the release date of their single, '3 Seconds'. Thanks for coming in, guys."

"It's no problem at all." Riku said demurely as his bandmates echoed his statement. "We're happy to be here."

"Well, why don't you guys introduce yourselves?" Mai smiled at the three young men. Two of them looked quite nervous while one looked like someone had just kicked his dog. She hoped these kids would do alright!

"Well, I'm Riku."

"Kai."

"And Kuu." Kuu growled, still remembering the woman who had stolen his candy.

"We're Persona." Riku added quickly, nudging Kuu with his knee. What was wrong with Kuu? "Wow... well, we were just talking about how we can't believe that we've come to this, you know. Putting out our first single, working on our first CD..."

"Yeah." Kai nodded. "From nothing to something, it took a lot of hard work and a lot of support from a lot of different people for us to get here today."

"How did you guys end up together? What's the story behind it?" Mai leaned over, in a show of interest. "At the beginning, when you guys first came into the public eye, there were only the two of you--Riku and Kai--in Persona. How did the three of you get together?"

"Well..." The three in question exchanged glances and Riku started speaking first. "We had actually met before, we had come in for an audition--"

"--and bombed it." Kai laughed a bit, remembering that fateful day they had met. "But we met each other."

"And me and Kai accidentally stumbled on to an audition where our manager saw us and signed us right away." Riku explained. "It all happened pretty quickly."

"How about Kuu?" Mai turned to the other member of the group. "How come only the two of you were signed?"

"Well, Kuu had another... offer before, but then he rejected it." Riku said carefully. Saeko and Marilyn had come up with a 'first meeting' cover story for them already. The story was close enough to the real story so they wouldn't be too confused.

"I joined up with Riku and Kai after the Indies performance." Kuu said quietly. The tone of his voice, the seriousness drew everyone's attention. "When they helped that girl at the Indies, they really reached out to her. And I thought to myself, 'these guys would be great people to be friends with', you know. They'd be people I'd trust to back me up and be there when I needed someone. And I'd be proud to be counted as one of the people they needed too."

"When you guys saved that girl, you know everybody's calling you heroes," Mai nodded, encouraging her guests to talk.

"We're not heroes." Kai shook his head. "The people who ARE though, are the everyday people that try their best. But it's hard to keep going and we all need someone to tell us that we ARE doing our best."

"And just a quick little sidenote," Riku interrupted with a small smile. "There are people out there who do care and whom you could talk to if you're depressed, lonely and feeling suicidal. You can search for Befrienders, I don't have the webpage address but--"

"--we at Toki-Wave will have that site up on this station's homepage after this show." Mai nodded seriously. "This topic, one of suicide, should be tackled head on and shouldn't be avoided because many people suffer from suicidal thoughts and feelings and we shouldn't push these people aside."

There was a small pause before Mai continued with a slightly lighter tone of voice. "Well, that was a heavy topic that needed to be touched on. I believe after the security at the Indies helped that young girl, you guys sang '3 Seconds' for the first time on that stage. Could we get Persona to sing us a bit of that song to lighten the mood?"

Riku exchanged looks with his bandmates, both who gave their leader a nod. "Yeah, sure, we can do that."

On the count of three, Persona launched into an a cappella version of '3 Seconds', singing the first part of their song and the chorus for '3 Seconds'. It was unrehearsed and hadn't gone through the machinations of song-making to filter out undesirable sounds like off-key notes or unscripted key-changes. But their raw voices melded well together, each finding a different pitch suited to them and reaching a polyphonic harmony that sounded beautiful, even better than the recorded version.

"That was great!" Mai clapped enthusiastically, and so did the techs in the control room though Kuu was the only one in position to see them. He was also the only one in position to see a certain woman pass by the hallway window, then come back for a double take.

'You!' Kuu narrowed his eyes and glared at the short-haired woman at the window who grinned at him, then walked off again. Two seconds later, a manicured hand holding up an opened package of Jolly Rancher candies popped up from the bottom of the window.

"Wow, you guys." Mai fanned herself a bit. "Three seconds with Persona has made me a fan! And it seems that we have several callers who want to talk to you!"

Kuu watched that package of Jolly Ranchers waving from side to side, murderously intent on the tantalizing multi-coloured treats.

"Kuu, so what do you do for fun?" Kuu whipped his head around to look at Mai intently, who balked at the way Kuu was staring at her.

"I like eating candy." Kuu answered, then turned back to the window, only to find the Jolly Ranchers and the hand holding them up, GONE.

"O-okay... well, we have another caller on the line! Her name is Mariko... Mariko, are you there?" Mai smiled encouragingly, though the listener probably couldn't see her.

"Hi, this question's for the one with the hair with blue streaks." The voice was familiar to Kuu, but he couldn't quite place it...

"Hi." Kuu said hesitantly and tried to loosen up and focus back on this interview. He remembered reading somewhere that people could hear you smile through the phone so he tried that. "That's me! I'm Kuu; the one with the blue streaks."

"Alright, Kuu..." The next thing this person said made her immediately recognizable. "What type of candy do you like?"

The woman was back at the window, waving the package of Jolly Ranchers with one hand and holding her cellphone to her ear with the other. Mai could also see this person in the window and just sat there frozen, not really knowing what to do.

"I. Like. Jolly Ranchers!" Kuu said through gritted teeth, trying to keep a smile on his face.

"Oh, I've never heard of them. Can you tell me more?" Mariko smirked a bit.

"They're American candy and they're hard to get in Japan." Kuu said quickly, his voice high and falsely bright. "And they're my favourite! I *just* found some in this station and some WOMAN took the last pack of them!"

"Wellthat'sallthetimewehavefortoday!" Mai pressed the 'hang-up' button several times, just to make sure their caller was gone. Mariko smirked one last time, blew Kuu a kiss through the window and walked off.

"Thank you Persona, for coming in! We're so happy to have you here at Toki-Wave FM and hope that you guys come back some time soon!" Kai and Riku, a bit confused at Kuu and Mai's strange behaviour, replied with polite thank you's. "And here's Persona's new single, '3 Seconds'!"

As soon as the light that signalled they were live went off, Mai threw off her headphones and turned to Kuu.

"I'm so sorry about that!" Bowing as low as possible to Kuu while sitting in her chair, Mai was on her way to prostrating herself on the ground to her guests.

"No, it wasn't your fault." Kuu tried to take deep steadying breaths. Who the HELL was that woman?!

"What's going on?" Riku looked from Kuu back to Mai, confused.

"Nothing. It's nothing." Kuu shrugged, forcing himself to be calm. He had to let it go. That woman was just trying to get a rise out of him.

"We better get going." Kai took a look at his watch. "We've gotta get to TV Tohto soon." Giving Mai a bow, he flashed the girl an apologetic grin. "Sorry to have to run out."

"No, no, it was great having you guys here, really!" Mai gushed. Indeed, it had been really nice to have these guys here. They were a breath of fresh air, totally without an air of pretense about them. They certainly were new, but the way Kuu had handled Mariko's teasing was quite impressive.

As Persona filed out of the room and hustled back to the waiting room to get their stuff, Kuu kept his eyes opened for that 'Mariko' woman, but she was nowhere to be found. However, while Saeko was hustling them out of the waiting area, a young woman, obviously an assistant of sorts, rushed in to the room, asking if anybody had seen "Mariko-sama's" bottle of Calpis soda.

'REVENGE.' Kuu spotted the bottle on a table... right next to a salt shaker. This was TOO easy. The sweet drink was quickly doctored with the contents of the salt shaker and left it for the assistant to find. After the young woman had rushed out the room, Kuu slipped away from her own group to follow the assistant.

"--getting a lot of guests today!" Mai was back on the air with her latest guest. "Shinoda Mariko's also managed to pop by for a visit! You started off modeling, is that correct?"

"Yes, it started as a part-time job, but it branched out to something a lot more full-time."

"But now you're doing a bit of acting, right? You've been in a couple of dramas before, but I hear you've gotten a starring role in a new movie coming out."

Kuu didn't hear the reply, even though there were speakers outside of the recording room allowing anybody looking in through the window to listen in. He was too focused on the drink in Shinoda Mariko, that evil woman's, hand. Mariko was in a very good position. She was sitting to the right of Mai, facing the window to the hallway, but was too intent on what Mai was saying to notice Kuu at the window right away.

'REVENGE.' Kuu glared daggers at Mariko when she finally caught sight of him. Smirking a bit, the model raised her bottle of calpis soda at him in a little 'cheers' motion, placed the bottle to her lips and tilted her head back to drink. In a few short seconds, Mariko had sprayed the doctored calpis soda all over the floor, thankfully missing Mai completely.

Only then did Kuu allow himself an evil smirk of his own, meeting Mariko's furious eyes as he watched her wipe soda from her chin.

"Steal my candy? That's what you get." Kuu let out a low, evil chuckle and blew Mariko a little kiss of his own before running off to find his bandmates.

---

"It was scary yesterday, my heart was racing." Riku whispered to Kai. Finally, they had a little down time after hustling over to TV Tohto from Toki-Wave FM where they had lost Kuu several times. Now, the the three young men that made up Persona plus Saeko and Marilyn were traveling up the elevator to their tv shoot and the boys decided to take this time to go over what had happened yesterday night. Yesterday, after the photo shoot, Persona had decided they needed a break. Putting away their boy disguises, they had gone out dressed up like normal girls and gone to an arcade to have fun. Little did they know that the snakeguy who had tried to take Asahi's purupuru was there and had started after them when he had spotted them! "I thought I was going to die!"

"I know." Kai frowned, seriously worried. Those guys had guns! "I wonder what that snakeguy wants from us. I wonder why he's chasing us."

'Don't tell me..." Riku slipped out his cellphone, fingering the purupuru doll that was hanging from his cellphone. "it's because of this?"

"It can't be." Kai said stubbornly. "What the hell would an old man want with a purupuru?"

Riku nodded. Kai was right. What would an old man want with a purupuru anyways? Sure, it was limited edition and hard to find...

As the two members of the group pondered this dangerous person stalking them, the elevator chimed, signaling a stop. The sudden appearance of the VERY man that was stalking them almost made Riku and Kai's heart stop as they tried their best not to gape at their pursuer. Seeing the elevator door closing behind him, Riku and Kai tried to dodge around the guy and escape, but they pulled back from the closing doors, leaving them trapped in the small cramped elevator with him.

"Help us--!"

"That's dangerous." Kuroda said gruffly to the two young boys. Really, at their age and playing on elevators? Riku and Kuu looked over at their pursuer in disbelief and he gave them a small nod and a smile. He didn't recognize them!

"Thank you very much," Saeko thanked the tall man demurely, while reaching out pinching fingers towards her two rowdy boys. "Really, they're a bunch of reckless kids."

"I-te-teee!...OSU!" Riku and Kai clenched their teeth and bore the pain admirably. Kuu, standing quietly in the corner, remained silent. The elevator ride continued on in silence until they all got off on the same floor.

"Haaaa... THANK GODDD!" Kai and Riku watched until their pursuer disappeared around the corridor and breathed a sigh of relief. Their relief was short-lived as Saeko took hold of their ears and pinched them hard, stopping Riku and Kai in their tracks.

"That guy just now," Saeko growled, "That's the one chasing the two of you, right? What the hell did you two dooooo..."

Saeko twisted their ears painfully and the two young men could only flail about helplessly.

"That hurts--we REALLY don't know!" Kai hissed.

"We didn't do anything at all!"

"Well, it's none of my business." Saeko glowered at them. "But if I find out you two are causing trouble, it's a hundred strokes for the both of you!"

"Hai." Kai and Riku sighed, resigned to their fate.

"Ara," Marilyn's confused exclamation caught their attention. "This is bad... Kuu's missing!"

The elevator suddenly chimed behind them and the doors opened to reveal a sleepy-eyed Kuu.

"I'm sorry," Kuu yawned, plodding slowly up to Marilyn. "I overslept!"

"You were sleeping with you eyes open?" Kai gaped at the taller boy who shrugged and grinned sheepishly.

"It's a talent, I guess."

"Stop disappearing on us!" Kai sighed. "Really, Kuu."

"Yes," Marilyn glanced at her watch and let out a tiny gasp. "Come on, quickly! We're going to be late!"

"OSU!"

---

endnote: wrote all of this in a rush. It's not my best piece, not at all. There might be a lot of mistakes too. But I'm trying to get it all out before real life puts a halt on my writing... sorry guys!


	7. Chapter 7

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 7

author's note: FUCKING FANFICTION DOT NET! It's gotten rid of all formatting page breaks in ALL of my fics! FAAAAWK! So all fics before this are seriously messed cuz you'll miss the page breaks. Sorry. I'll try to change that... I need my own site, dang.

language!:

language notes:

urusai - shut up

baka - idiot, stupid

u-so - no way

* * *

Out of their 'work' clothes, the girls brushed their long hair, reveling in the feeling of being in comfortable non-boy clothes. Saeko had given the girls an evening off and they had decided to celebrate the release date of their single, '3 Seconds'. When they had gone to buy it, it had been disappointing to see that there wasn't many of their CDs on sale but it was heart-warming to see that they did have a fan out there who wanted to buy their CD.

"Ray sure is popular though..." Hinata said thoughtfully, running a comb through her hair. "Did you see that wall of CDs they had for her? Peole say that her new album 'H', is pretty good..."

"Don't buy it. I'm warning you." Nami gave Hinata a dirty look. "We see enough of her already. We don't need more of her during our off-time."

"Ooooo..." Hinata gave Nami a cheeky grin. "Someone wants Ray alllll to themselves!"

Urusai! Baka." If looks could kill, Hinata would've been dead before she hit the ground.

"Do you looooove her?" Asahi decided to join in the good-natured ribbing, enjoying how Nami's face and ears were quickly turning red.

"S-S-Shut up!" Nami took up a pillow, starting an impromptu pillow fight.

"Ah!" Giggling, Hinata ducked a thrown pillow, rolling out of the way like James Bond. While rolling, she managed to pick up a pillow and return fire. Unfortunately, she missed her mark and hit Asahi.

"Mou!" Asahi grabbed the pillow and threw it at Hinata, who launched herself out of the way, giggling insanely.

"Get her!" Nami grinned, brandishing a pillow of her own. Asahi and Nami both ran after Hinata, laughing out loud. Marilyn and Saeko had gone home to do... unmentionable things all night long, so the three had a free night. It felt so good to be out of boy clothes and to drop the boy persona, even though they had gotten used to it over time. It felt good to have a seperate identity from Persona to take a break from the hectic work schedule. Their girl clothes marked the times they were off while boy clothes meant they were on the clock.

"I give up!" Hinata was rolled up into a ball, hiccuping with laughter as her two groupmates brought the pillow down on her body. "I give!"

"I can't get enough of this feeling of freedom!" Nami flopped down onto the futons, still breathless from laughing.

"This is the only place we can really be ourselves." Hinata agreed, unrolling from her ball and sitting up. For her troubles, she got a face full of pillow from Asahi and was down again.

"And the 'L's aren't here tonight!" Asahi added cheerfully.

"Hey," Hinata sat back up again. "Do you guys wanna throw a CD release party with just the three of us?"

"We shouldn't!" Asahi frowned a bit. "What if shachou suddenly comes back? We'd be in trouble!"

"It's fine!" Nami grinned and rolled over from her spot on the futon, looking up at her two friends. "If she said she won't let Marilyn sleep and they'll play all night, that means-"

"they won't come back!" Nami and Hinata said in unison.

The wheels in Asahi's head turned slowly and finally a smile crept up on her face. "That's true... then... shall we?"

"Lets do it to it!" The three cheered. In no time at all, they had round up some orange juice, cookies, sweets and put their CD promotional posters all over the walls of their shared room. It was cozier up here and they had a mini kitchen, which meant they didn't have to go downstairs for much. Besides... it was better not to be downstairs just because they might bump into Saeko and Marilyn doing unspeakable things! So it was just much safer upstairs.

"Cheers!" The three toasted to their success, feeling positive about their future and all of them happy that it had ended up with the three of them together. Kai was the joker of the group; funny, brash and loud, with the ability to lighten up a tense situation but he was also serious and hard-working when it came down to it and pushed her group to be all that they could be. Kuu, well, Asahi seriously thought that without Kuu, musically they would've been mediocre at best. Also, the soft-spoken member of the group was gentle and kind and entirely too cute for words and he charmed the staff left and right. Riku kept everyone in line, without really knowing it. Kai and Kuu were prone to be distracted but Riku kept his eyes on the target like a heat-seeking missile and the decisions he made were sound and extremely helpful to the group.

About to drink to their success, the three were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

"Who could that be at this hour?" Asahi shared puzzled looks with her group.

"I'll go check." Nami volunteered. Meanwhile, the doorbell kept ringing. Whoever it was was eager to get in! As Nami came down the stairs, she spotted shachou's whip sitting on one of the mismatched chairs in the living room.

"Shachou musta forgotten something and came back to get it." Nami grinned. Even the thought of the L's couldn't kill her good mood! Jogging to the door, she unlocked it and pushed it open, grinning, imagining Saeko's flustered face. "Hey-"

"I'm here!"

Nami's eyes almost popped out of her skull as the LAST person she wanted to see EVER stood in front of her in all her Diva glory. RAY. Apparently, Nami was the last person Ray wanted to see too as the brilliant smile dropped from her face as she realized this person in front of her, though oddly familiar, was not her beloved Kai. Whipping off the sunglasses that covered half her face, Ray stared at Nami in a mixture of stunned surprise and anger. She KNEW this was the right house. Who was this girl? Nami wasn't going to be giving any answers though as she slammed the door in Ray's face and locked it.

"U-SO!" Nami screeched, running back into the house and up the stairs two at a time.

"Who are you?" Ray pounded on the door, pissed that the girl had DARED slam the door in her face. "Open up! Could it be-are you a burglar? I'm calling the police!"

"Ray's here!" Nami burst through the door to their room. Asahi and Hinata stood up in alarm, sharing the panic Nami felt.

"Why?"

"How should I know?" Nami threw up her hands.

Hinata looked from Nami to Asahi, getting more and more panicked as the drumming on the front door got louder. "What should we do?"

"If she sees me like this..." Nami grabbed at the front of her shirt, panicking. What if Ray had guessed? What if Ray recognized her?

"What do we do? Shachou's for sure gonna find out about this!" Hinata was not making this better. In fact, she was just making everybody stress out even more.

"What if she calls the cops? Persona'll be exposed!" Nami was also not helping and was making everyone even MORE panicked.

"Well," Asahi was trying to calm down and think but it was hard with two girls babbling beside her and one crazy Diva pounding at her front door! "Nami, change into your disguise and calm her down!"

They all scurried to help Nami change with Asahi quickly and expertly pinning up Nami's hair and securing the tiny girl's blonde wig and Hinata throwing a baggy black zip-up sweater at Nami and a pair of baggy khaki shorts.

"Go go go!" Asahi pushed Nami out the door to their room, watching the other girl hopping about trying to zip up her shorts while rushing down the stairs.

"Open this door NOW!" Ray demanded, now more than a little angry as something occurred to her. A girl? In the same house as KAI? What was a girl doing here? What was Kai doing with a girl? As the door opened, revealing Ray's love interest, Ray could only feel helpless anger raging inside her.

"Kai, who was that woman earlier?" Ray demanded to know. Bringing her hands up, she wrapped them around Kai's neck and started shaking the blonde. "Being with her while you've got me~!"

"That was just a neighbour," Kai lied through his teeth, pushing off Ray's strangling hands. "She needed to borrow some soy sauce! But it's alright now, she went home. Well then, bye-"

The sound of Ray's booted foot stopping the door from closing shook the house as Ray glared down at the small blonde idol.

"Hmmm... Is that so?" The layout of the house prevented Ray from seeing the rest of the house from her vantage point at the door. But that would NOT stop Ray! "I want to see for myself."

Pulling the door open and brushing past Kai, she stormed into the house.

"She's coming!" Asahi had been looking over the banister from the second floor and now ducked down. "Quick, we gotta change!"

"Whaaaat?" Hinata pouted, resting her chin on the banister. Asahi JUST manged to pull Hinata out of sight as Ray looked up. Ray searched the kitchen, looked into Saeko's office, looking around to see if there were any signs of that girl being here. But there were none. Why had that girl looked so familiar...

"She's not here." Ray said quietly, feeling foolish.

"Right?" Kai smiled, relieved that Ray had stopped her rampage. If she had decided to storm up the stairs... well... Kai didn't know how he would explain Hinata AND Asahi. Putting his hands on Ray's shoulders and turning the Diva towards the front door, he started GENTLY leading her towards the exit. "Nevermind that. What did you come for?"

"Ah, that's right!" Ray beamed at Kai. "Congratulations on your CD debut!"

Kai finally noticed that Ray had brought a cake box in a plain white paper bag and was now offering it to Kai The Diva sounded incredibly cute and girlish as she beamed at the blonde. "To celebrate, I made a cake for you!"

The shortest member of Persona couldn't help feeling touched by Ray's thoughfulness but was distracted from the gift as Riku flew down the stairs in a pair of slacks and a casual white button-up shirt.

"That's so nice of you! Thank you!" Riku rambled, holding out his hands to take the cake, but the bag was quickly pulled away from Riku.

"It's not for you!" Ray held the box to her chest like it was some priceless treasure. "It's for Kai!" Turning back to Kai, Ray pressed the cake into Kai's hands with another brilliant smile. "Here!"

"Thank you." Kai smiled back weakly and accepted the bag. Riku, pouted. How come he didn't get any cake?

"For some reason, your hair looks weird today." Ray commented, looking at Riku strangely.

Kai winced. DAMNIT! Riku had screwed up!

"You've got the wrong wig." Kuu came down the stairs in Riku's wig, a t-shirt and blue basketball shorts, having realized the error himself when he was putting the final touches on his hair.

"Wig?"

All three members of Persona exchanged another flurry of panicked looks, wondering how they were going to cover this up...

"Uh... haven't you heard about that new hairstyle 'wig'? It's all the rage in New York." Riku babbled quickly. "Yeah, we're researching new hairstyles right now."

Ray gave Riku and Kuu a weird look and let the topic drop. She didn't think too much on it as she really didn't care about Kuu or Riku. Her only concern was Kai. Turning back to her beloved, Ray moved closer to Kai, her eyes gleaming excitedly. This was the first time she had made a cake and she had to say, it was pretty much a success!  
"Lets eat the cake together." Ray smiled at Kai.

"Sure!" Kai pushed Ray towards the couch. "You take a seat, I'll go get us some plates. Do you want tea?"

Talking quickly to distract Ray, Kai motioned for his bandmates to go into the kitchen and Riku and Kuu quickly exchanged wigs in the kitchen before Kai joined them.

"I can't believe this," Kai spoke in a low voice. "She chased me all the way here."

"This is the only place we can be ourselves after a hard day's work," Riku pouted at Kai, still a little bothered that he wasn't allowed to have a bit of cake. "You're her lover right? Get her to go away."

"I told you, we're not lovers or anything!" Kai protested.

"Oooo..." Kuu stared at Kai accusingly. "Even though she gave you your first kiss, eh?"

"Shaddup." Kai's eyes narrowed.

"Anyways," Riku nodded towards the living room. "If you eat that cake with her, it'll probably please her. If you make her angry again..."

All three remembered very well the whipping Nami had been subjected to when she had pissed off the Diva. None of them wanted to experience the pain of the whip again.

"Okay, I'll eat the cake and make her leave." Kai nodded.

"Hinata LOVES cake!" Kuu cheered, clasping his hands together and was met with the fierce disapproving glares from Kai and Riku. The smile dropped from Kuu's face and he pouted at his friends. What?

Plates, forks and tea was prepared, soon they were all sitting around the table in the living room with Ray and Kai occupying the chaise and the other two members of Person pulling up single chairs.

"Okay, I'm going to open it!" Ray leaned forward and pulled off the lip of the box. "Taadah!"

"GEH!" Riku and Kai made a face as they stared at the abortion of a cake. It was aqua-green icing and was topped with raspberries, chocolate kisses, nuts, raisins, chocolate sprinkles, pieces of peach and a slice of pineapple in the centre.

"What?" Kuu looked around the table. "It looks delicious!"

"Yeah," Kai smiled weakly at Ray. "I was just... so surprised that it looked so good!"

Kuu, meanwhile, had swiped a bit of icing from the cake with a finger and tried it out. "It's pretty good!"

Riku tried a bit too but immediately regretted it, a sour taste exploding in his mouth that was mixed with a cloying sweetness, too sweet to be good. The cake's icing also seemed to numb his tongue. While Riku tried to discreetly get rid of the taste in his mouth, his face told Kai everything that the blonde needed to know. This cake would be horrible.

"Who said you two could eat it?" Ray scowled at them. "This is all for Kai!"

"Dozo, dozo." Riku grinned, now not at all upset that he would have to skip out on the cake. Kai grimaced, mouthing out the word 'Traitor!' to Riku. Looking at the cake with a large smile that looked more like a grimace to Riku and Kuu, Kai picked up a fork and quickly took several bites.

"Is it good?" Ray prodded, looking at Kai eagerly.

Kai, trying not to gag on the taste of the cake, gave Ray his best smile. "It's delicious. Thank you."

"I'm so happy that you're eating it so joyfully!" Ray threw her arms around Kai and the blonde immediately stood up as Ray's arms came too close to her unbound chest.

"I'm not strapped down!" Kai hissed to himself, uncomfortably aware of that fact as Ray settled for wrapping her arms around Kai's tiny waist and hugging him tightly.

"Strapped down?" Ray looked up at Kai curiously who quickly sat down, scrambling to cover for his slip.

"I was just thinking, that uh, your hair feels so nice..." Kai leaned forward and touched Ray's hair, running his fingers quickly through the silken strands then leaned forward to take a quick smell, smiling at the Diva. "It smells so good, too."

"You can touch it any time!" Ray gushed, feeling her cheeks heat up at the compliment. If baking a cake for Kai was all it took to get results like this, she'd bake him cakes all the time! Kai, meanwhile, was taking big gulps of tea from his teacup, trying to wash away the taste. It was SORT OF helping...

Kai managed to wolf down a couple more bites of cake before Ray excused herself to the washroom.

"Get rid of the cake while you've got the chance!" Riku said as soon as Ray was gone. Kai jumped to action, hiding the horrible cake underneath the sofa to be dumped later. Honestly, how could anything taste so horrible?

"How did she find out where we lived?" Kai grabbed at his hair in frustration.

"Well, Monkey Pro is our parent company..." Kuu started to say with a shrug.

Kai, who wasn't really listening to Kuu, continued pacing. "Why is she here?"

"To give you a cake to celebrate your CD debut." Kuu answered Kai's question again. The sound of the washroom door opening stopped Kai's pacing and the blonde pasted a smile on his face.

"That cake sure was good!" Kai rubbed his stomach to emphasize the point. "Well, you'd better be leaving now, you've probably got work tomorrow, right?"

Holding out his hand to Ray, the Diva took it eagerly as Kai pulled her towards the door, determined to finally get rid of the singer.

"Are you concerned about me?" Ray smiled at the diminutive blonde's back. He was small and slim, almost like a girl... but the way he walked, the way he seemed to radiate confidence made him seem like a giant to her. "Kai, why are you so nice?"

"Eh heh... yeah..." Kai ducked a hug and settled for a companionable pat on the back while pushing the beautiful woman out the front door. "Bye bye!" And underneath his breath as he shut and locked the door, he muttered, "Don't come back."

"She's gone!" They all let out a sigh of relief and flopped down on to the upholstery. Their rest was short-lived however, as the doorbell rang again.

"Now THAT might be shachou." Kai had an arm flung over his eyes. "She left her whip."

"I'll bring it to her and the we can continue with our party!" Riku picked up the instrument of torture and trotted to the door, knowing that Saeko didn't like to be kept waiting, but instead of the president's familiar face, another familiar and uninvited face appeared.

"Shachou, did you forget something-"

"Yo, Riku!" Katsuyuki grinned, delighted to see Riku. "I was in the neighbourhood so I thought I'd drop by and congratulate you on your CD debut!"

"O-oh." Riku nodded, pasting a smile on his face. "Uh, thanks!"

"Well," Katsuyuki stood at the threshold to the house, feeling a bit nervous as Riku stood at the doorway. "Um... well, if you're busy-"

"No!" Years of good Japanese upbringing made Riku automatically step aside and wave Katsuyuki-san in. "Please come in! We were just having some tea..."

Kai and Kuu were, to say the least, displeased with this new guest when they had just gotten rid of the last one.

"Oh, you already have refreshments set out. Are you expecting someone?"

"No, nobody really." Riku blurted out. "We just wanted tea. Now we want juice. Do you like juice? We'll get you some juice. GUYS, LETS GO TO THE KITCHEN!"

The three-man boyband escaped to the kitchen again.

"Why'd you let him in?" Kai asked in a soft voice.

Riku peeked out at Katsuyuki who was messing around with a weird stuffed calf Saeko kept in the living room. "What choice did I have? He came all this way to congratulate us."  
"You're really covering for him, eh?" Kai crossed his arms, finding an opportunity to get Riku back for teasing him about Ray. "Do you like him?"

"Not a chance." Riku's cheeks puffed up in indignation.

"There totally is a chance." Kai sing-songed.

"Stop pissing me off." Riku growled. Being in man-mode got Riku's testosterone pumping.

"What are we gonna do?" Kuu's voice interrupted their argument.

Kai, thoroughly enjoying Riku's discomfort, crossed his arms. "You do something this time."

Riku bared her teeth at Kai, who did it right back. Grabbing four glasses of orange juice, they went back to the living room to join Katsuyuki-san.

"Thanks." He took the juice gratefully and was about to drink when he caught sight of Riku's face. The smooth-skinned Riku was sucking his juice through a straw... it was almost sinful, the way he was doing it-

"Could it be..." Kuu's voice barely pierced the haze around Katsuyuki brain. "that Katsuyuki-san likes Riku?"

"There's no way!" Katsuyuki laughed a bit too loudly, getting way too ahead of himself. "Two men kissing? There's no way I'd so something stupid like that!"

The three young men looked up at Katsuyuki in horrified fascination. It was like watching a train-wreck. The young director of Sunny Music wasn't convincing ANYONE of his not-liking Riku.

"Oh yeah, Riku, lets arm wrestle! Men need to be manly!" Katsuyuki was on his feet, eager, some might even say desperate to change the topic.

'Do guys arm-wrestle for fun?' Riku's puzzled look directed at Kuu earned her a shrug.

"Yeah, men do need to be manly..." Riku stalled, casting a look at Kai. The blonde leaned forward to confer with Riku discreetly.

"This is bad, he'll totally figure you out cuz you're weak." Kai said bluntly.

"I'm not weak," Riku pouted. "And you told me to do something!"

"Arm-wrestling?"

"What's up?" Katsuyuki looked at the two whispering boys nervously. Were they talking about him?

"Nothing!" Riku stood up, false enthusiasm on his face. "Lets do this!"

The table was cleared for the two combatants. Katsuyuki thought he had found the perfect out, some friendly competition between two good-looking men-not that he thought Riku was particularly good-looking. Or that Katsuyuki-san noticed things like that or thought that the way Riku looked when he was concentrating was completely and utterly hot... no. Katsuyuki, the young director of Sunny Music was 100% hetero-OH MY GOD, RIKU'S HAND WAS SO SOFT!

'Why is my heart racing?' Katsuyuki was had to restrain himself from panting as he tried to focus on the task at hand.

"Okay," Kai was self-appointed ref and Kuu enjoyed his role as spectator. "Ready-"

"Wait a sec!" Katsuyuki nearly threw himself away from Riku and turned away from the three young men, muttering to himself. Unknowingly, loud enough for them to hear. "Calm down... I should like women. I *do* like women! I like women... I like women..."

As Katsuyuki-san repeated this mantra to himself, Kai was chuckling gleefully at Katsuyuki's problem.

"This is HILARIOUS." Kai whispered to Riku. "Is he gay?"

"No way." Riku grinned at the hilarity of it all. Katsuyuki-san looked so straight!

"Okay, I'm ready!" Katsuyuki took off his jacket and flung it on the chaise. "This is a fight between two men!"

They clasped hands again and Kai was there to set them up.

"Ready... Go!" Katsuyuki immediately started putting the pressure on, but it didn't seem like Riku was letting up either with Kai and Kuu cheering their bandmate on. However, the singer seemed to be struggling as he leaned forward little by little, trying to get some leverage by shifting his body forward a bit. It was too much for the director of Sunny Music though as he panicked from Riku's near proximity.

"I... I can't do it!" Katsuyuki, once again, flung himself away from Riku, lying on the floor with his hand covering his eye. "I can't do this, I can't-"

Opening his eyes again, he was greeted by the sight of Ray, looking down at him.

"What are you doing here?" Forgetting his Riku problem for the moment, he blinked up at the Diva in confusion.

"I forgot my bag." Ray answered, picking up her bag from the floor beside the chaise, turning to Kai after she retrieved her belonging. "And your door was unlocked! It would be bad if Kai ran into some crazy stalker, so I made sure to shut and lock it!"

'Lock it? Then we'll just have to unlock it again when she leaves now.' Kuu thought in confusion.

'She could've just taken her bag and left. Locking the door behind her is just one extra step.' Riku was trying to puzzle out why the Diva would lock their door behind her. Only the blonde member of the group was sure of the reason Ray had locked the door behind her.

'SHE WANTS TO STAY LONGER!' The gleam in Ray's eyes as she looked at Kai hungrily told the shortest member of Persona that he had hit the nail on the head.

The sudden pounding on the door caught all their attention.

"See! Just like I said, a stalker!"

Saeko's voice demanding to be let in sent the Persona-boys into panic-attacks.

"Oh no, the president's back!" Riku looked at their two guests.

"RULE NUMBER 15: NO GUESTS! RULE NUMBER 15! NO GUESTS!" Soul-numbing fear was making Kuu repeat rule number fifteen of Kamonohatsu agency.

"Hurry, hide them!" Riku grabbed Katsuyuki and his jacket, tugging him towards the hallway closet while Kai grabbed Ray and headed to Saeko's office. Riku pushed Katsuyuki in to the hallway closet and to keep him from protesting, jumped in too to slam his hand over the director's mouth to stop any and all protests.

"What's going on?" Ray let herself be lead, enjoying the action-star quality Kai had suddenly taken.

"You have to hide! And keep quiet!" Kai hissed while pushing the Diva underneath the desk. The blonde made to leave but was tugged under the desk with Ray.

"If I'm hiding," Ray giggled quietly, feeling very much like a kid playing hide-and-seek again. "You. Are. Too!"

"What-"

"Shhh..." Ray pressed a finger against Kai's lips. Crouched in this small space together, the space just got infinitely smaller as Ray turned Kai's face towards her with gentle hands. Kai was frozen like a deer in the headlights of a speeding car as Ray oh-so-carefully leaned in and placed a timid kiss on Kai's lips, suddenly shy in this small cramped space.

"Ray-"

"Shshsh," Ray shushed Kai again and leaned forward, stopping all words between them perfectly.

"Why are you wearing your Persona outfit?" Saeko, meanwhile, had been interrogating Kuu. This was all so very suspicious, very, VERY suspicious. The few long seconds it took for Kuu to reply was even MORE suspicious.

"I'm practicing!" Kuu replied. "Practicing our dance routine!"

Leaning forward, Saeko sniffed at Kuu's clothing while the boy stood, frozen to the spot.

"You smell." Saeko scrunched her nose up, her sharp eyes pinning Kuu with a knowing look. "You smell of lies."

The president of Kamonohatsu agency wanted to investigate further... but she HAD left Marilyn... QUITE tied up. Her secretary could wait for a while but to make her wait too long would make the usually docile woman unbelievably pissy.

"Well, whatever." Saeko grabbed her whip from it's resting place. "But if you guys go out and come back smelling like cigarettes and booze in the morning again... you will get the whip."

"Osu." As Saeko breezed past towards the front door, Kuu gave a super-polite bow and saw Saeko off. As soon as the whip-wielding woman had left, Kuu let out a sigh of relief.

"She came back for it!" Kuu announced for the people in hiding. Now they could get rid of their guests and get back to the CD release party! "Hey, it's alright, she left!"

Kuu opened the hallway closet door to reveal Riku and Katsuyuki-san, locked in a very heated whispered argument... something about Katsuyuki-san worrying about what Riku meant by shoving the both of them in the closet while Riku growled back that it meant nothing, with a red face.

"Um... guys-"

"We're busy!" They both snapped before pulling the door closed behind them. The stunned silence afterwards told all three they had not expected that. Riku and Katsuyuki-san now stood in the closet, frozen like deers in headlights, staring at each other. They were alone again.

"W-why did you close the door?" Katsuyuki-san started.

"Why did YOU close the door?" Riku shot back, embroiled in their back and forth arguing again.

"Fine." Kuu pouted, hurt that they had raised their voices at him and walked over to Ray and Kai's hiding place, hoping to at least get Kai to join him. "Kaiiii, lets continue our party!"

Moving the rolling leather chair out of the way so Kuu could look under the desk, Kuu gaped at the sight before him. There was Ray, kissing Kai with a lazy leisure. Kai, meanwhile, had completely frozen and just sat there, letting Ray do whatever she wanted, unable to stop her.

Kuu's lips turned down, feeling very sad and just a tad envious. Everybody had somebody.

'Riku has Katsuyuki-san and Kai has Ray.' Kuu went back upstairs. He felt like the third wheel... and he hated that feeling. He was unwanted. Well, if they didn't want him, he was going to go out and celebrate by himself! 'Nobody wants to be with me, even though it's our CD release date.'

With that lonely thought in mind, Hinata changed into a lolita dress she had smuggled in, then went back downstairs cautiously. But she felt even lonelier when she came down and Ray's giggles floated out to her from shachou's office and Riku and Katsuyuki-san's whispered arguing hadn't stopped. Throwing open the front door-and not noticing that she had slammed it against a hiding Jiro's head-Hinata stormed off into the night.

She didn't get too far though, noting that the trains were far away from their house and the neighbourhood offered little in ways of entertainment except for the odd hostess bars and convenience stores.

"What should Hinata do to celebrate?" Hinata asked herself brightly, trying to keep a stiff upper lip. She really wanted to cry. "I know! Hinata remembers that there was a karaoke a few blocks over! Hinata can go sing!"

She had wanted for nothing in her life. The only child born to a well-off family, she was given everything she could possibly ask for. She was afforded a top-notch education and home-schooled for the beginning part of her life by the best teachers that her parents could afford, classically trained in music which she loved. Her parents loved her... but were distant and always off on one business trip or another.

Hinata had no cousins, no siblings, no friends. She had insisted on going to public school and thought that her situation would change and she would meet friends. But she was too eccentric and a bit too smart for everyone. And she came in the middle of the year, where people had already met friends. And it wasn't that they bullied her, it was just that she didn't exist to her classmates. Finally, Hinata had turned to the world of Lolitas that attracted the young misfits of society... but she disliked how superficial these friendships could be. She liked the clothes, though. Finally, Hinata, disparing that she would ever find friends, heard a song. It was a simple song but it was a song that made her feel like it was all going to be okay.

She had heard it briefly, the end of that song, but the lyrics struck her so profoundly. Something about not worrying and things would be alright and if anything should happen... this female singer singing this song said she'd be there to sing another song for her audience to help them through the hard times. Hinata felt like this unknown voice was singing directly at her.

The song had faded from memory, the artist unknown and Hinata couldn't for the life of her, find this artist again. But that song was what had started her love for these idols, these bright shining presences on stage and the airwaves. They made her feel better, they offered comfort in the times when she most needed them. That was why she was trying so hard to be an idol, to bring happiness and alleviate some of the loneliness for some shy, lonely kid who just wanted to know someone cared-

"Hey you, how does forty thousand yen sound?"

Hinata turned around, confused. Forty thousand yen? Doesn't it just sound like paper? Or if it was all in coins, it would sound like a lot of coins... facing the man who had asked the question, she noted dimly that he looked cheap and skeevy, even though he was wearing an expensive suit. And who wears sunglasses in the middle of the night? He seemed to recognize her, though, as he took off his sunglasses, did a double take and gave a short scream of surprise.

"AHH!" Hinata suddenly remembered who this skeazy man was! "Hentai producer!"

"I got fired, thanks to you! You ruined me, you know?" He tucked his sunglasses into the inside of his jacket then grabbed out at her. "Come here!"

"No, no, let go!" Hinata screeched, suddenly fearful. Suddenly, someone was by her side, grabbing the hentai producer's wrist in a painful grasp, twisting it and pushing him away with one hand.

"She clearly doesn't want to." The older, distinguished looking man faced down Hinata's attacker.

"What'd you say?" The former producer Kaga threw an erratic punch that was easily caught by Hinata's rescuer. Putting pressure on the fist, Kaga crumpled easily, gasping from the pain.

"Let go, please!"

"Promise to never do it again?" Hinata watched her prince in shining... well, prince in a dark business suit... growled at Kaga.

"PLEASE! Let go!" Hinata's rescuer shoved Kaga away, then brushed himself off as if touching the unpleasant former-producer dirtied him.

Still gasping in pain and embarassed by the stranger who had come to the frilly girl's aid, he held his hand gingerly against his body and backed away, screaming at them. "You got lucky this time! But no matter what, you're an ugly girl! Just an ordinary ugly girl!"

Hinata blew a raspberry out at the man's retreating back as he ran, suddenly furious and no longer scared. How dare he try to cut her down! "I'm not ordinary anymore! I'm chasing my dream! I won't let anyone get in the way of my dream!"

The man who had saved her smiled just a little bit at the young girl's spunk and turned, walking away from her.

"Um!" Her voice made the man pause. Bowing as politely as she could, she mustered up all the gratitude she could and tried to convey it in her voice. "Arigatou gozaimashita!"

He gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod of his head and kept on walking.

"We'll meet again, right?" She called after him. He didn't reply and before she could call out again, her phone chirped at her.

"Moshi moshi."

"Hinata!" Riku's voice was panicked. "Nami's in trouble!"

"What?" Hinata was suddenly hit with instant worry.

"Where are you?"

"I'm coming back!" Hinata turned around, heading back to the Kamonohatsu house.

"We were worried about you! When we finally got Ray and Katsuyuki-san to leave and you were missing-"

"Where is she?" Kai groaned in the background. "Is she okay?"

Hinata felt her insides warm at the thought of her friends worrying about her, even though one of them sounded like he was dying. She had friends! "I'll be back ASAP! Just hold on!"

Picking up speed, she was back at the shared house in no time. She was at the door-not noticing Jiro crouchd in the corner waiting for a photo opportunity-and yanked it open. Trying to continue her forward momentum, she lost control and tripped over her own feet. Riku was at the door and seeing Hinata come flying forward, he reached out to catch her and the both of them when flying to the floor, jarring loose Riku's wig.

"Ita-ta-ta..." Asahi hissed, her natural hair pooling to around her shoulders as she sat up.

The flash and tell-tale sounds from a camera filled the air and Asahi found herself in the crosshairs of a papparazzo's camera. A familiar papparazzo with limp blonde hair.

"Asahi?" Jiro lowered his camera, gaping at the woman in front of him. Before he could say anything else, he was tugged into the house by Kai and the door slammed shut behind them.

* * *

endnote: Short and sweet. The next few chapters you'll definitely see a lot of additions to the storyline. I feel like Mendol's run coulda gone on for longer if they had fleshed it out a bit... reviews, comments, criticisms, compliments, all welcome. :D Tell me what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 8

author's note: And at the end of this chapter is where we're gonna start wandering off into non-canon land. :D

* * *

"Do you think he'll keep quiet?" Hinata's voice rang out in the darkness. The girls were all sleeping in their futons, too wired to go to sleep.

"He will." Asahi said with more conviction than she felt. Jiro had looked stunned and kept shaking his head when Asahi was explaining to him and begging her long-time friend to not rat them out. He had said he needed time to absorb all of this and had left the Kamonohatsu house, uncharacteristically quiet.

"He better." Nami muttered.

"Anyways, are you feeling better?" Hinata turned over to look at Nami. Nami gave the girl a small smile. "Yeah, thanks to you. Gingerale does help."

"We better stock up." Asahi giggled. "Looks like Ray might want to make more food for her boyfriend."

"Shut up." Nami growled.

"Oooo..." Hinata giggled. "Nami and Ra~ay, under the desk. K-I-S-S-I-N-G-"

"You saw that?" Nami screeched, jumping up.

"You guys were kissing?" Asahi sat up, not wanting to miss an opportunity to tease Nami.

"CHIGAUUU!" Nami protested loudly. "She frickin' attacked me! I was frozen in terror! Anyways, why'd you run off, Hinata?"

The attention turned to her, the pig-tailed girl rolled over, avoiding her bandmates' questioning eyes. "Well... I thought you guys were having fun without me, so, I didn't want to disturb you guys..."

"Why would you think that?" Sensitive to Hinata's fragile nature, Nami sat down and scooted over to the loli. "It was supposed to be our party! Then those two idiots came and totally barged in on it."

"Yeah." Asahi nodded, feeling a little bit of irritation creep in. Stupid Ray wouldn't give her any cake! Though maybe that was a good thing, seeing how Nami turned out after eating the toxic creation... but Hinata had looked so happy finishing off that ugly monstrosity. "I wanna celebrate with people I made my CD with. The only other people I want with us is the rest of the recording crew, Marilyn and MAYBE shachou."

Silence reigned in the dark room and finally, it was broken by a little sob.

"Are you crying?" Nami gaped at the lump under the blankets that was Hinata.

"N-no." Hinata obviously was.

"Hey." Asahi got out of her futon now and sat beside Nami to join her in poking at Hinata under the blanket. "Why are you crying?"

"I-I-I've never h-had any f-friends." Hinata confessed, hoping that the two girls wouldn't think she was weird. "I was h-home-schooled w-when I was y-young and I was a w-weirdo."

"You're still a weirdo!" Nami blurted out and hissed in pain as Asahi punched her on the arm. "But we still like you!"

"Thanks." Hinata sobbed, half-laughing, half-crying. Her two bandmates exchanged a look, then on an unvoiced signal, they slipped into Hinata's futon, one on each side.

"What-"

"Tell anyone and I'll kill you." Nami grumbled, snuggling closer to Hinata.

"Snuggling is fun!" Asahi chirped and she and Hinata giggled while Nami continued mumbling about 'stupid bandmates'.

"Don't think about stupid things, okay?" Nami remembered quite well, the girl standing in the middle of the Indies' stage threatening to kill herself. "We're here for you and don't you forget about it."

"Nami's so sweet, isn't she?" Asahi giggled. "That's why she gets all the girls!"

"SHUT UP."

Heart fluttering in her chest, Hinata was so happy she felt like she could fly away! Kai and Riku definitely were idols that she loved, but if Asahi and Nami were idols... well, Hinata was pretty sure she would fall for them too! With that thought in her head and the sound of Asahi and Nami's good-natured bickering in her ears, Hinata fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

* * *

_I'm listening to your CD now! (*^_^*) hearing Kai's voice makes me feel so good inside!_

Kai shuddered at the message she got from Ray, loosening his tie to get a bit more air. To make the Diva leave their house that day, Kai had to exchange her phone email and number with the long-haired beauty. Then, with the help of Katsuyuki-san, they had forced the woman to leave. Jiro, meanwhile, was not a problem. Or at least Riku kept reassuring his bandmates that he wouldn't be a problem.

"You sure?" Kuu leaned over to ask nervously again.

Riku was getting annoyed. Their questions were making her nervous! "I'm sure."

"Well, if you say so." Kai shrugged. "Come on, lets concentrate on the task at hand."

Right now, they were at TV Tohto again, arriving to get ready for a variety show called 'TV Junkie'. To get more time on TV to publicize their single, they would have to jump into a small pool of ice cold water with a bunch of other young idols! The ones who stayed in the water the longest would get more commercial time to talk about their work.

Saeko had jumped through a lot of hoops to get this done and she was coming across a lot of problems. Too many of them, in fact, to be normal. She was quite sure Sarukawa was behind all of it, too. He had been lurking around every time a problem had shown up but Saeko had smoothed it out with Marilyn helping out, unbeknownst to the boys. Persona didn't know their management had had to literally STAND OVER the production line to make sure their CDs came out at the right time, or make sure that the CD booklets and posters got printed out with no mistakes. They also didn't know that someone was deliberately shutting them out during publicity events, either. It had taken Saeko a lot of groveling to get this spot on 'TV Junkie' for the three... luckily, the boys' slim physique worked in their favour. The show needed losers and they thought Persona would give up on the cold water as soon as they got in.

But Saeko believed in the boys.

Even though she thought all three of them were moronic children some times and didn't even know who the great Ruby Gates was! All of his fifty-six singles had reached the number one spot on the charts, he's sold ten million albums and he'd instantly sold out concerts at Budokan for over a month! He's the man who had created legends in several areas of the Japanese music scene! The most amazing part was that he could make a woman reach ecstasy with his singing! This great man had finally come out of retirement and was going to sing again! Did the boys not understand how IMPORTANT Ruby was and how bad the disappointment would be if Ruby refused to sing after saying he would?

The boys from Persona's only reaction to this news was: "He's before our time."

Before Saeko could come down on them for their stupidity and ignorance of great figures in Japanese popular culture, she was interrupted.

"Why do I have to apologize?" The arrogant voice of one of Sarukawa's young idols echoed in the hallway as they came down a stairway towards them.

"Oi, Keigo." Sarukawa growled. This guy was infuriating! Ever since Sarukawa had started grooming the young Keigo to start a group similar to Animal Crush, the young boy had been incorrigible. And Sarukawa had poured so much time and effort into polishing him up, it was a shame to cut him loose to be picked up by some other agency. Besides, Sarukawa was thinking of pairing him up with Ray, possibly putting out a duet. But Keigo had just managed to offend the great Ruby Gates!

"Calm down, shachou." Katsuyuki-san was walking alongside Sarukawa. He thought Keigo had been unnecessarily rude, but it wasn't worth making a scene over.

"Sarukawa-shachou!" Saeko greeted the men coming towards them and her boys and Marilyn gave a polite bow.

"Ah!" Sarukawa pasted a smile on his face. Saeko was a bit of a headache but her body made up for the trouble she caused him. Really! The young idols she was grooming was managing to steal a lot of his own people's limelight and he was working hard to keep Persona under wraps!

As Saeko mined the men for information, Kai's eyes had locked on to Keigo, noting his VERY masculine good look. In torn jeans, black boots and a low-cut shirt, he REEKED the scent of man! THIS would get Kai's mind off Ray! Charging forward to grab Keigo's hand, the blonde shook it enthusiastically, giving his best smile.

"I'm Kai from Persona! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" Kai pumped Keigo's hand up and down enthusiastically and grinned again. The intensity she was giving off frightened Keigo a bit.

"Uh, hey there." Keigo gave a little smile, too taken aback to be rude.

"Keigo, right?" Kai grinned. "So we'll be seeing a lot of each other!"

Keigo was confused. "We will?"

Before Keigo could question further, Kai had ran back to his friends, full of glee.

"After dealing with Ray, I need to go for this!" Kai grabbed his compatriots close and whispered. "What's wrong with the occasional guy?"

"You've never even kissed anyone before." Kuu pointed out.

Riku grinned. "Except for Ray."

"Several times!" Kuu high-fived Riku.

"SHUT UP!"

As the boys giggled amongst themselves, Sarukawa tried to put his foot down on this issue. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile!

"We're going to Ruby's dressing room." Sarukawa's tone of voice left no room for negotiations.

But Keigo wasn't afraid at all and snorted at his manager's tone of voice and gave a derisive snort. "Why don't you just go alone?"

Disregarding the irrate man, Keigo sauntered off. Riku and Kuu wrinkled their noses at that scene. Arrogance was really unattractive on a man, especially when there was, in Riku and Kuu's humble opinion, absolutely nothing to be arrogant about! Sarukawa-shachou raced after his young star, flashing the people around a quick, confident smile that looked absolutely fake. It seemed as if Keigo just wasn't going to be reigned in.

"Oi, KEIGO!" The manager was fast losing his temper as he ran after the shaggy-haired young man. Something to his left caught his attention and he noticed Persona's Kai following along.

"Along for the ride!" Kai gave a thumbs-up.

"Shouldn't you be with Saeko?"

"It's fine, it's fine." Kai waved away the question. He had plenty of time! And Keigo seemed to have stopped! "We've caught up!"

He was standing outside the door, looking into a recording studio through the small window in the door.

"Whatchu lookin' aaaaattttAAAHHH!" Kai wordlessly screamed as she spotted Ray in another room behind the glass. Quickly ducking, he tugged at Keigo. "Yo, that's Ray!"

"I know." Keigo shrugged, then cast a look at Sarukawa-shachou. "Why hasn't she been introduced to me yet?"

This was one thing Sarukawa-shachou knew not to give way on, or else there'd be hell to pay.

"Nobody sees Ray unless it's for business or she approves it."

"We're going to be working together, aren't we?" Keigo's voice was demanding.

"No." Keiji smiled wryly, a little bit condescendingly. "She didn't approve it."

"I'm the fastest rising star in this agency!" Keigo tilted his head up a bit. "Why the hell won't she work with me?"

"Cuz she's crazy?" Kai only caught the last part of Keigo and Sarukawa-shachou's argument, too caught up in the pounding of his heart.

"She must be." Keigo nodded and patted Kai on the shoulder. "I need more people like you around."

Hearing that made Kai feel pretty good. "Osu!"

"No no no no no." Sarukawa chuckled, stepping in between Keigo and the door to Ray's recording studio. "Turn around and walk away, this isn't open to negotiations."

Keigo, of course, wasn't used to having people say no to him and reached around his manager to open the door, ducking under Keiji's arms but running straight into a huge man blocking the door.

"Sarukawa-shachou." Hiro nodded at the manager who smiled at the bodyguard. "What's this skinny guy doing here?"

"I'm here to see Ray." Keigo tried his best to look intimidating but it was hard when you had to look up at the person you were trying to intimidate. "Do you know who I am?"

Hiro chuckled. Oh, Ray was going to tear him a new one if THIS guy managed to get past.

"Don't know who you are and I don't think it matters either." Hiro folded his arms across his broad chest. "No-one gets to see Ray unless they're on her list. And you," Hiro gave him a sneer. "Are definitely, NOT on her list. Now get out of here before I have to embarrass you."

As Hiro talked down to this arrogant young man, the bodyguard suddenly noticed Kai off to the side. The guy was so tiny the bodyguard had barely seen him! "Yo! How's it going?"

"Uh," Kai blinked, taken off guard. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"Manners, too!" Hiro let out a deep laugh and grabbed Kai in a one-armed hug then gave Keigo another look. "Now, see? This is who gets to be on the list."

"THAT guy? What's he got that gets him on the list? I'm so much taller!" Keigo tried to push his way inside but Hiro was a rock and used one hand to push right back, sending Keigo onto his ass.

"Yeah, whatever." Hiro tsked, then moved aside to let Kai in. "In you go, bro."

"Thanks!" Kai beamed up at Hiro and walked in, while Hiro walked out, closing the door behind him so he could make sure that the annoyance left the premises. Kai's eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the control room of the recording studio, making out the some-what familiar forms of Ray's entourage Kai recognized.

"Hey guys-ahhhh!" Kai slapped his hands against the side of his face, suddenly realizing he had just walked into the lion's den! WHY HAD HE COME IN?

"Kai!" Ray had spotted him through the glass and was jumping up and down calling him excitedly. Before he knew it, Ray had thrown off her headphones and burst through the door connecting the control room to the room Ray was singing in.

"Kai! You came to visit me!" Aware of the people in the room, it seemed that even RAY, the clingy, sexual-harassment woman knew better than to throw herself at Kai. Though she was REALLY pushing the personal space bondary by stopping bare CENTIMETERS away from the object of her affections, face flushed and smiling brilliantly.

"Uh, haha, yeah!" Kai took a nervous step back. "I ws just passing by, and, uh, I didn't mean to-"

"You're not bothering me at all!" Ray blurted out, a little bit afraid that Kai wouldn't visit her anymore and her hand shot out to grab his hand. "Come on, take a look at my new song!"

Kai shuddered as Ray pulled him forward and a sheet of music was thrust into Kai's hand. The Diva motioned for the technician at the workstation to start playing what they've recorded so far, wanting to share everything with Kai.

"Listen." Ray grinned. "What do you think?"

Kai, on seeing the music, immediately felt a bit of interest. This was the biggest selling star right now! How did she create her music? Kai had to admit he really wanted to know.

"It's really..." Kai frowned as he followed the lyrics on paper with the music but tried to smile when he saw Ray start to pout. "It's really... mainstream?"

Ray shrugged self-consciously. "It's what sells."

"I remember your first album was really good." Kai said distractedly, his eyes running over the lyrics. "It was... fuller. I think. And the lyrics were a little bit better."

"Well, what do you think I should do?" Ray asked, genuinely curious.

Kai shrugged, not noticing several musicians that were in the room glaring at him. Ray had never cared about THEIR opinion! What was so special about this short guy? "Well, I dunno, really. I'm just a rookie, right?"

"Indulge me a bit." Ray watched the young blonde nod and look over the music again. His long lashes fluttered against his cheek, the fierce expression he sometimes wore wasn't there but the way he bit his lower lip in concentration was soooo sexy...

"Okay, just a suggestion, but," Kai's voice shook the Diva out of her lustful thoughts. "Why don't you change some of the lyrics so it's more your style and the... pacing of your singing? Like the song seems like it's just plodding along on the same beat. I dunno. Do you know what I'm talking about? I dunno if it'll work, I mean-"

Ray had gently taken the piece of music from Kai and was looking over it carefully, singing the song in her head. If she changed it a little bit here, then the music right there... it was sort of like how she had wanted the song to sound like before she had been 'encouraged' to change it under Sarukawa-shachou's directions.

"Well, I gotta get out of here," Kai waved to Ray's entourage. "I gotta get back before shachou kills me."

"See you later?"

"Sure." Kai said automatically, then grimaced. His mouth really did work faster than his brain! Thank god his mouth wasn't the only thing that was fast as he quickly ducked Ray's grasping arms and ran out the door, slamming it behind him with a quick 'bye!' He then immediately bumping into Hiro.

"Yo." Hiro grinned at the small blonde. Hiro really liked the little guy! With him around, Ray was always in a good mood and a lot easier to manage! "Where you off to in a hurry?"

"Gotta get back to work." Kai looked up at Hiro then around hopefully. "Keigo gone?"

"Yeah.I scared him off." Hiro chuckled, wondering at the crestfallen look on Kai's face. Were the two young men, friends? Kai seriously needed to rethink his friendship with that rude guy, though. "And oh, hey, you come by any time, alright? You're on Ray's good list. The list that doesn't have to be renewed every day."

"She really has a list?" Kai's mouth was hanging open in disbelief. He thought Hiro had been joking!

"Yeah. That's our princess for you." Hiro said wryly. "So take advantage of it. Not many people get on her good list."

"Well, see you later-oof!" Kai was embraced in another one-armed hug that knocked the air out of Kai's lungs.

"Later, shortie!" Hiro gave the shortest member of Persona a thumbs-up, then slipped back into the recording studio. Kai started off back to the room they would be changing in when she bumped into Keigo again.

"Hey, I thought you had left-"

"How do you know Ray?" Keigo had been hiding around the corner, listening to the conversation the dimunitive singer had been having with Hiro.

"I was introduced," Kai shrugged. "She came out to see us when we were recording our single."

"Ray doesn't see anybody and she wanted to see Persona?" Keigo paced the halls, letting out a short bark of laughter. "What the hell is that?"

"And what the hell do you mean by that?" Kai bristled, not liking Keigo's tone of voice. Seeing that he had upset Kai, Keigo raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Nothing, man. You know Ray doesn't just see ANYBODY, so I'm surprised is all. Anyways, lets exchange info." Keigo whipped out his cellphone, an idea forming in his head. Kai must be pretty close to Ray, so if Keigo wanted an introduction... he was SURE that Kai would be able to give him one sooner than Sarukawa-shachou! Keigo was also sure that as soon as Ray met him, she'd fall head-over-heels for him then they would come out to the world as the most perfect couple in the entertainment world, maybe even bigger than Angelina and Brad!

"Sure!" Kai, not realizing Keigo's intentions, immediately whipped out his own cellphone to exchange details. "I gotta go now though, mail me later, okay?"

'He's a bit of an ass,' Kai thought as he jogged to the changing room. 'But I need real men in my life! With Ray hanging all over me, I feel like I'm getting 'L' germs!'

It didn't take him long to find the room they had been assigned. Kai knocked on the door and waited for Riku. The defacto leader was already changed into a tracksuit and he cautiously opened the door, ushering Kai in.

"I saw the snake guy!" Riku blurted out as Kai started undressing.

"What?" Kai almost fell over, his pants pooled around his ankles, remembering very well their pursuit by this guy. "Did he recognize you?"

"I wouldn't be here if he did." Riku said sourly.

Something suddenly occurred to Kai. "Where the hell is Hinata?"

"Speaking of her... but no, she'll be fine!" Riku played with the zipper on his red tracksuit. "That guy's only looking for the two of us right? He shouldn't know about her."

"But if they met somewhere and he asked her about us," Kai was slowly building a picture in Riku's head. "and that bimbo told him the truth..."

"AH!" Riku could see it clearly in his head. He wsn't sure... but Kuu could be kind of careless some times... "I'm gonna go find her!"

Riku had bolted out of the change room with Kai not far behind him as they started their search for the elusive Kuu, brought them to a room where they spotted Saeko and Marilyn, talkng to each other quietly and looking very much like they were scheming.

"Are you sure it's okay to send Kuu to greet Ruby Gates?"

"Ruby's gay. And his favourite type of guys are the young, innocent-looking ones." Saeko said lazily. "I basically served Kuu up on a silver platter for Ruby. If Ruby 'eats' Kuu, Persona gains a huge upper hand."

That was all the boys needed to hear as Kai shoved the door open, infuriated.

"Is all of that true?" Riku's voice was dangerously calm. Kai, on the other hand, was raring to go.

"You're gonna let that old guy eat Hinata?"

"You two-"

"If that's what needs to be done for business, yes." Saeko said emotionlessly. "That's the entertainment world and that's me."

"You L!" Kai snarled. Riku didn't even bother, running out the door to find Kuu. Kai gave their management one last furious look before running out the door to follow Riku.

"You guys-!" Marilyn was SURE Saeko had a different plan. She had to... right? Marilyn's beloved Saeko wouldn't serve up one of their talents to be 'eaten'! "But if he takes the bait, won't he realize that Kuu's-" Marilyn lowered her voice to a whisper looked around nervously, you never knew who was listening. "-a girl?"

"When he gets to the point when he's about to take Kuu, we'll jump in and rescue him." Marilyn brandished a video camera that she had pulled out of nowhere.

"What?"

"You still don't get it?" Marilyn resisted the urge to laugh evilly. "I'll use the video to blackmail him. I'll make him say something in front of the media that'll give Persona a big push. We'll be selling like hot cakes, then!"

"Just as I would expect from you!" Marilyn clasped her hands together, knowing that her shachou wasn't the type of person to sell out her talents like that. Saeko would do anything to make sure that Persona would succeed. "You're so dark!"

"I'll call this:" Saeko paused for dramatic effect. "Mission Gaypossible!"

Meanwhile, Kai and Riku were desperately trying to find Kuu, running through the hallways towards Ruby Gates' dressing room. So focussed on their goal, Riku didn't slow down as they were taking a corner and crashed right into someone.

"Yo, watch it!" Kai bent down to help his friend up.

"Ah, sorry! Are you alright-ah!" The blonde photographer friend of Riku gave a tiny exclamation of surprise on seeing them. Since finding out Asahi and Riku was one and the same, the 'boys' hadn't really talked to Jiro at all. Riku was actually really dreading the next time they'd meet.

"Jiro!"

"Perfect timing, I was looking for you!" Jiro got up, dusting himself off.

"If it's about Persona, I don't care what you think!"

"I'll support you!" Jiro exclaimed fervently.

"Huh?"

"I was so moved by what happened... or... shocked." Jiro said, emotions chasing each other across his face until three triumphed. Pride, love and determination. "Anyways, for you to go this far... you really do wanna be an idol! You're amazing! So amazing! You're really-"

"Shaddup already!" Kai ran forward and body-checked Jiro out of the way. "Get the hell outta our way, we're in the middle of an emergency!"

"Right!" Riku nodded, remembering their task at hand and the urgency behind it. Running to Ruby Gates' room, they burst through the door, hearts freezing when they saw that the man in the room, they suppose was probably Ruby Gates, TOUCHING KUU!

"WAHHH!" As one, Riku and Kai tackled Kuu away from Ruby, the three landing in a heap on the floor.

"Owwww..." Kai hissed.

"What's with you two?" Kuu blinked at his two companions.

"Are you okay?" Riku grabbed Kuu, searching for signs of trauma. "He didn't do anything to you, right?"

"Yo, old man! What were you planning to do to him, huh?" Kai stood up, providing a physical barrier between Ruby and his friends.

"What... we were just gonna have some casserole." Kuu pouted. He had wanted chocolate casserole! The best casserole of all! "Right?"

Ruby didn't say anything, glad that his sunglasses hid his eyes. The older man with the long mane of wild hair was aged well and still exuded a aura of greatness around him, moving like a proud lion. Watching the three young men, Ruby was torn between fury and amusement at the small blonde's aggressive stance.

"Hey, I know!" Kuu almost jumped up and down in glee. "Why don't the four of us go together? It'll be fun!"

"That would be an orgy." Kai and Riku growled, frustrated with Kuu's innocence. Ruby, finally, took off his sunglasses.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood right now for... casserole." Ruby's voice was smokey and heavy, a true rock star's voice. Moving to the couch in his room, he sat down heavily and threw his sunglasses on the small coffee table. His room was filled with flowers and gifts from TV Tohto and important people in the entertainment industry. But his heart wasn't lifted by the beautiful colours and thoughtful presents.

"Why? That sucks." Kuu pouted.

"I'm seriously getting annoyed with you." Kai snapped at the clueless Kuu, though the blonde was relieved that there was no danger.

"Um," Riku fidgetted nervously. Here they were, in front of this great legend. He was confused though... after not performing for so long "Why aren't you gonna perform? I mean, your fans have been waiting for so long..."

"You guys are really rude." Ruby growled. He had had one upstart stripling insult him. He didn't need THESE three to have a go at him too!

"Sorry." Riku apologized, quickly soothing Ruby's ragged feelings. The man gave the three boys a sidelong glance. They looked truly repentant... and they hadn't meant any harm. Plus... they were cute.

"But I guess I should answer your question." Ruby sighed, feeling depressed. "My voice won't come out like it used to."

"Your voice?"

"They say that my voice has the power to make women reach ecstasy."

"We heard." Kai said with a mixture of awe and disgust.

"They say that one hundred percent of women reach ecstasy!" Kuu said gleefully, giggling.

"Now it's thirty percent... on a good day."

"Thirty percent is amazing!" Riku protested.

"Yeah-"

"It's not enough." Ruby said gruffly. "You guys sing. You should know that."

"...yeah." The three nodded, immediately knowing how Ruby felt, feeling sympathetic towards the great star.

"Sarukawa got me to go along with this, but right before it was supposed to start, I knew... I'm not as good as I used to be." Ruby spoke without any emotion, straight-forward and blunt. "I'm pathetic."

"Ruby-san."

"I finally decided." It was heart-breaking, just thinking about it, not being about to do what he loved the most... but Ruby couldn't bare the thought of not living up to his fans expectations. "I'm going to quit singing."

The weight of Ruby's statement pressed down on all of them.

"Are you really gonna quit?" Riku finally had to say something, not at all at ease with the older man's decision. "I don't think anyone can give up on something they love so easily. We failed so many auditions, but we never gave up."

Ruby stared at the boys, weary and a bit resentful. They were so young. They didn't know anything yet! Just small fry in a pool of sharks...

"We won't quit. No matter what we do or what happens, we won't quit." Riku announced. "We're finally where we wanted to be."

Ruby let out a little laugh. "That's so naive."

"Sing again!" The boy with the blue-streaked hair encouraged.

"Don't give up, old man-ow!" Kai yelped as both Riku and Kuu punched Kai in the arm.

"You should sing, Ruby-san." Riku said gravely. Looking at the three of them and the expectations in their eyes, Ruby had to turn away from them. He couldn't do it anymore. He just... couldn't. The boys stood there for a few seconds, not knowing what else to say.

"Come on." Kai nodded towards the door. "We got that ice cold commercial thing to do."

"Yeah..." Riku gave one last glance at Ruby, then followed Kai's lead. Kuu was the last one in the room, unsure.

"Are you sure?" Kuu asked that one last question before hurrying after his bandmates.

* * *

"What the hell, that looks so cold!" Persona, along with three other bands and a couple of solo singers, all vying to get more publicity time, stood at the edge of a small pool full of water and at LEAST twenty-five percent ice. A huge display over the pool showed that the water was at six degrees celsius, DAMN COLD.

"Do we have to?" Some of the other idols whined.

"Yeah," Kuu was giving Riku 'sad face'. "do we have to?"

"We do." Kai eyed the icy cold water in trepidition.

"Yeah." Riku looked up at the temperature on display. "It's only six degrees! We can do this!"

"Everybody ready?" The host laughed it up, disregarding the looks on everyone's face, whistle to his lips. "Readyyyyy... GO!"

At the shrill blast of the whistle, nobody jumped in, each looking at the other. The people filming in the studios laughed.

"You guys chicken?" A visual kei group growled at Persona.

"Whatever, who you calling chicken?" Kai snapped back.

"All of you are useless!" A young female singer sneered, though she was also standing high and dry.

"I don't see you jumping in." Kuu muttered. As the young idols argued amongst themselves, their managers were getting frustrated.

"Riku, Kai, Kuu!" Saeko's voice was heard from off-stage. The three looked over at their manager who made a whipping motion with her hands, eyes glaring murderously at them.

"What's she saying?" Kuu whispered, watching Saeko mouth something at them.

"I think..." Kai squinted, "I think she's saying..."

"I... will..." Riku gulped, reading Saeko's lips. "...kill... you... idiots..."

"Ready?" The host tried again, bringing his whistle up. "GO!"

At the sharp blast from the whistle, Persona, as one, jumped in. It was one thing to be cold. But it was ANOTHER thing to nurse their red bottoms after Saeko had set her whip on them! The other young idols jumped in too just a little bit after Persona, but almost immediately, most of the contestants climbed out again leaving only Persona, the young female idol who had called them useless, and the visual kei group in the waters.

"BLARGH!" Kai thrashed around in the water. It was cold! It was DAMN COLD!

"COLD!" Kuu's teeth were chattering! "C-c-c-cold!"

Only Riku remained silent, trying to move about as much as possible, hoping desperately it would keep him warm.

"I'm losing feeling in my toes!" One of the members of the visual kei group swam to the edge, pulling himself out. Unable to stand the water, the rest of his team followed.

"Aren't you g-g-guys cold?" The young female idol treaded water near the edge. "Why d-d-don't you g-get out?"

"S-shut up!" Kai hissed. As they argued in the freezing water, none of them noticed that Ruby Gates had slipped into the studio and was watching Persona with intense interest.

"Just g-give u-up!"

"NEVER!" Riku finally said something, throwing the girl a truly intense look. "I'm not giving up!"

As everyone laughed at Riku's answer, Ruby felt truly touched by these boys. They were so young... but that fighting spirit... when had Ruby lost that? When had he become disillusioned and discouraged? And Ruby Gates kept watching as their one competition finally dragged herself out of the pool while Persona swam in that freezing cold water, cheering triumphantly. They had beat the record previously set before!

They pulled themselves out of the waters after a few more seconds of swimming around and though their lips were blue from the cold, they were grinning at each other happily.

"And we have our winner!" The host grabbed Riku's hand and raised it in the air. The runner-up was already wrapped in a warm towel, smiling at the three young men grudgingly.

"You guys did alright." She gave them a quick bow.

"You were pretty good too." Riku smiled back.

"That's right, for a thirteen year old, she sure is spunky!" The host said cheerfully.

"What the hell-you're only thirteen?" Kai gaped at the young girl. She looked AT LEAST seventeen!

"Didn't you know? She's Matsui Jurina. She's quite popular nowadays." Kuu looked at her bandmates in exasperation. "Honestly."

As they bickered good naturedly and took a break to change out of their wet clothes, Ruby Gates slipped out of the studio, knowing what he had to do.

* * *

Saeko pursed her lips in disappointment. Mission Gaypossible had failed. Ruby hadn't taken the bait and the boys had ruined the only chance Saeko had had of getting Ruby in a compromising position. The schedule book she had in front of her was entirely empty except for this cold water commercial. She doubted that it would make much of an impact in sales, though. She needed more publicity but the door was firmly closed on them! Ruby would have knocked the door down, hell, the whole HOUSE if he had talked about them to the media in his highly publicized return to singing!

"Shachou!" Marilyn ran into Saeko's office, interrupting Saeko's melancholy thoughts. "It's Ruby Gates! He-"

"I don't want to hear a word about him!" Saeko said petulantly, slamming her schedule book closed. "He didn't eat them... Mission Gaypossible was a failure!"

"No, it was a success! He's on TV right now!" Marilyn picked up the remote control on Saeko's desk and flipped on the television.  
"-think the thing that made me want to sing again was being able to meet Persona. They have the power to really make a person listen." It was the interview after the Ruby Gates performance. "They still aren't developed as artists, but they have something precious that they try to tell people. I'm really looking forward to seeing them from now on."

Ruby Gates looked directly at the camera, a smirk on his face. "Of course, I won't lose to them, either."

"There you have it!" The reporter said excitedly. "Japan is looking forward to a new Ruby Gates. What can we expect from you in the future-"

Saeko's cellphone ringing prompted Marilyn to put the tv program on mute while the president of Kamonohashi Talent Agency answered the phone call.

"It's been a whole, Kamon."

Saeko smiled, almost tenderly despite what she had been willing to do to the speaker on the phone. "Ruby Gates is the only one who I will let call me that."

"Correct." Ruby's deep, smoldering voice sent a thrill down Saeko's spine. Truly, Ruby hadn't lost his touch.

"I just saw you on TV. You're one hundred percent back. Congratulations."

Saeko could HEAR Ruby's smile through the phone. "When I saw those three in that ice cold water, something deep inside me was shocked and a ruby shower enveloped my whole body. And then I just had to sing."

"So you got it back. The old you." Saeko had seen Ruby Gates languishing and feeling the heat when he had reached the top of the mountain. The pressure of being a legend had gotten to him, so much so that singing had become a burden and he lost his nerve. She was glad he was back.

"You found some good guys."

Saeko allowed herself a small smile. Hearing something like that from such a big name in the industry made her so proud of her boys. Someone like Ruby, recognizing her talents as SOMETHING.

"They'll definitely be big. I guarantee it." Ruby Gates' voice held a promise. He was grateful for what Persona had done for him and he wanted Saeko to know he would back the group. Ruby would DEFINITELY smash through the barriers that had been set up to stop Persona from succeeding.

"Later." Ruby hung up casually and Saeko closed her flip phone. A few seconds later, the house phone suddenly rang.

"Hai," Marilyn picked up the phone, eyes still locked on to the TV program. "this is Kamonohashi Talent Agency...what? You'd like Persona to make an appearance? Alright. Alright... yes, I understand!"

Their other line rang, as calls started pouring in and Saeko looked at the phone happy and the flashing lights on her phone lines. They were going to be busy this month.

* * *

"You can't make excuses, you can't even say they're not popular enough now. I want Persona to replace the actors we have slated for next week's shooting." The tall woman with the short haircut crossed her arms, glaring at her manager who was glaring right back. "I don't care if you have some drama with their management. Now there's no excuse! It makes perfect sense-" The tall woman looked over to her left at a pretty girl lounging on the couch, watching something on her cellphone. "-right?"

"Hey," The girl on the cellphone grinned nervously, her dimples making her even cuter. "Leave me out of this."

"Stop looking at naked girls and help me out!"

"They're not naked," The girl on the cell mummbled, slouching down. "They have all their clothes on and they're all beautiful people that should be respected for more than their bodies."

The last girl in the office who was sitting off to the side and reading a textbook, looked over her book at the girl sitting on the couch in amusement.

"Your majesty," The girls' manager scowled, using the title sarcastically. "You cannot do as you please."

"This is the FIRST time I've asked for something like this. And you're just being stubborn because you have petty issues with their manager!"

"They're. NOT. PETTY. ISSUES!" The manager gritted out, tossing her long hair angrily over her shoulder.

"Then here's your chance to work it out! I get what I want and so do you." The tall woman ponted out. "Do something about it."

Their manager was quiet for a while. Then she retreated to the big leather chair behind her desk, her brow furrowed in thought.

"You know, the director isn't going to be happy about this. I'll have to go to the producer with this and get it okay'd."

"Persona's really hot right now. If you can guarantee their management okays this, I bet you the producer will be okay." The tall girl leaned forward eagerly. "In fact, I KNOW he'll be okay. I heard recently that he's been trying to get a hold of them and meeting with the writers to write roles for them into the show. So make it happen, Megumi-shachou!"

Ohori Megumi looked up at the tall woman wryly. "I never pegged you for a fan of Persona, Mariko-sama."

"I'm not." Shinoda Mariko smiled. The smile was honestly, not a very nice one. In fact, it was downright scary.

"Whatever, Mariko!" The girl on the couch sing-songed. "De-nial's not just a river in Egypttttt..."

"Yuko, don't make me burn your photobook collection of pretty girls." Mariko sighed.

Oshima Yuko let out a gasp, sitting up. "You WOULDN'T."

"She would." Megumi flipped open her phone, finding the number of the person she had not called in a long time, but had never really forgotten. But before she pressed the 'dial' button, she looked over her three main talents. "You're all okay with this?"

"They're fine." Mariko narrowed her eyes and shot Yuko a look. The girl on the couch gave a dimpled smile and a wink, before concentrating on the video in her cellphone again. Megumi, taking that as affirmation from Yuko to go ahead, focused her gaze on the relatively quiet girl sitting in the corner.

"Atsuko?"

Maeda Atsuko looked over the top of her book at the eyes that were trained on her. Then she shrugged and turned her attention back to her textbook.

"Do what you like."

* * *

endnote: And who can tell me where the new characters are from? So next chapter, this story goes down a completely different route.


	9. Chapter 9

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 9

author's note: And... this is where this fic completely veers away from the mendol timeline. Get ready! WARP SPEED AHEAD! By the way, ffnet is a bitch and keeps killing all the formatting so if stuff looks weird... blame ffnet.

* * *

"I can't believe we're heading there alone!" Asahi sat in between Nami and Hinata, pouting. Hinata was looking out the window in wonder while Nami was fiddling with the tv console in front of her. They were all out of disguise, but dressed in comfortable clothes on the plane.

"Those damn 'L's, " Nami agreed distractedly. After the ice-cold commercial and Ruby Gates pushing their name on all his interviews, they'd been getting a lot of jobs, so much so that traveling from one place to the next was the only time they got to relax. Right now, they were heading to Okinawa where they had been asked to be in the drama 'Three Sisters' (no relations to the Korean drama at all), that was doing spectacularly well in the ratings. All three members of Persona had not been able to watch this show since they had been so busy, but Saeko had assured them that it would be great and boost their popularity.

"But at least they'll be able to catch the next flight out!" Hinata said cheerfully. Their manager and Marilyn had gotten... distracted, in one of the public restrooms. Something about 'harder to get into the mile-high club now that we're on their watch-list so we have to get some time in before boarding'... anyways, the girls had refused to check on them when the boarding call came and had finally gotten a text when their plane was rolling out to the runway from Marilyn saying they would catch the next flight and that the girls should fend for themselves for one day in Okinawa.

"This sucks!" Asahi pouted.

"Well, think about it! One day without the L's watching us." Nami pulled her headphones off and grinned at Asahi. "Freedom!"

"We can do whatever we want!"

Hinata and Nami wriggled in their seats happily, squealing quietly like little piglets in the mud. Asahi went over all the things that could possibly go wrong and finding none, joined in her bandmates' excited squealing. They would have a day off! And they were going to OKINAWA!

"Okinawa!" Hinata clapped excitedly.

"Beaches!" Nami agreed.

"Bikinis!" Asahi sighed in bliss. She so wanted to wear her bikini...

"Bikinis?" Nami thought about it for a while. Then her face fell. "I didn't bring mine!"

"What? You're going to Okinawa and you didn't bring yours?" Hinata looked down her nose at Nami and scoffed. "I'm already wearing mine under my clothes!"

"That's a bit strange." Asahi commented.

"I'm gonna go out to buy a bikini when we get off the plane." Nami announced. "Wanna go shopping?"

"I want to, I want to!" Hinata raised her hand in the air, excited.

"But first..." Asahi grabbed her purse from under the seat in front of her and produced a schedule book from it's depths. "Marilyn gave me a list of things we might need since there were some things in our wardrobe that was unaccounted for."

The list of things they needed to buy were just men's clothes in general for hot, Okinawan weather. It wasn't that they didn't have any prepared for them, it was just shachou and Marilyn thought it would be good to get some that the girls actually picked themselves from a store. Only Nami needed to go buy men's swimwear since she was too small and it had been hard for Marilyn to find fashionable swimwear in her size.

"Seriously?" Nami frowned at the list. "I'm not that small."

Hinata pouted. "Hinata doesn't want to buy men's clothes!"

"What if we didn't have to pay?" Asahi produced a bulking white envelope and smiled at her companions. "Marilyn gave this to us and told us to use it wisely. And... if we're smart with our money, we might even be able to sneak in a bikini into the purchases."

"What's in the envelope?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Doofus." Nami flicked Hinata in the ear. "Obviously, money!"

"Money?"

Asahi opened the envelope and a stack of 1000 and 5000 yen bills was brandished discreetly. "She said we could split it."

Squealing quietly, the three quickly split the money in between each other. Granted, the split only gave them around thirty thousand yen each, but they were still pretty happy with the split. It was free money! Well... hard-earned free money. And the money was just for a little while, until Marilyn and Saeko could get to Okinawa and help them out with their shopping.

"Lets buy clothes!" They all cheered soundlessly, careful not to disturb the other passengers on the plane.

* * *

"We've got everything?" They had checked in to their hotels then went to the shopping district nearest them. Shopping had been pretty fast... they had all picked out a couple of casual clothes, almost going over their budgeted amount. It was funny how now they looked at men's clothing with a different eye and it was actually quite fun to pick out their alter-egos' clothing. Riku always went with a nice, clean-cut look because that was what Asahi liked. Kuu had a fun, sporty feel to him because that was Hinata. Kai was a little more edgy, his clothing a lot more alternative and badass because Nami herself liked that kind of look.

"So now, all we have left is Kai's swimwear." Riku checked off the items on the list Marilyn had given him. "So lets go to a place that sells swimming-"

"I can go alone." Kai said gruffly, his cheeks red from embarassment. "It'll be fine. I can meet you guys on the beach after, I know you wanna get out of your clothes."

"Well, okay." Riku and Kuu agreed readily, really wanting to get out of their boy disguises that they had on to go shopping. Trying on men's clothes when you looked like girls was weird.

"Call us!"

Kai watched her friends leave the current floor of the department store, descending out of sight on an escalator. Letting out a huge sigh, the shotest member of Persona went to the escalator that headed upwards towards the men's swimwear section. It was embarassing shopping for men's clothes because of his small stature. Kai didn't know why he had such a complex about it but it was frustrating and had been a bit mortifying to keep asking the sales' for smaller sizes when he was buying some t-shirts. He really didn't want to go through the same thing in the swimwear department.

"And especially not with those two," Kai muttered to himself. Wearing flip-flops, loose shorts, just his binding tank top and a short-sleeved zip-up hoodie, Kai browsed the various stores with men's swimwear. Unfortunately, as he went from store to store, he felt disheartened at the lack of swimwear in his size.

"Irrashaimase!" The small and slim salesman with the wildly-permed hair greeted the blonde immediately. Kai nodded distractedly, fingering the pair of black and green swimming trunks that had caught his eye. It was on display on a male, headless mannequin. It was a dark, rich green with swirls of black pattern on it, looking VERY cool. Kai had never seen this design anywhere before. It was very bold.

"You have a good eye, sir." The salesman said politely. "This is a new product from one of our local designers and it's limited edition. We've managed to sell out the few we had in stock to some foreigners."

"What sizes do you have?" Kai looked at the pair of swimming trunks dubiously. "I'm rather small..."

"Well, there's only this size on display." The sales started to say and Kai felt his heart sinking. The clothes on the mannequins would not fit him. Well, he had assumed it would be tough to find swimwear...

"However," The sales grinned at Kai. "I actually have a pair that might fit you. It's one or two sizes smaller than a men's small. It was a factory defect apparently, and I have them in storage to be sent back. Do you want to-"

"YES." Kai immediately replied. The swimming trunks were brought out and when Kai tried them in the changeroom, they fit him perfectly. After looking through all the other stores, he had finally found a pair of trunks he could fit into!

"I'll take them!"

"Thank you, sir." As the slim young man rung Kai up, he leaned over the counter and spoke in a conspiratory whisper.

"I have a hard time finding clothes that fit me, too." He grinned at Kai. "Us small guys should stick together!"

"For sure!" Kai nodded happily, just completely amazed that he had finally found something in his size without having to go to the kids' department. Kai was even happier when he saw the sales had given him staff discount. Humming happily to himself, the blonde walked off and ducked into a women's washroom when no-one was looking and he was sure there was no-one inside. Quickly going to a stall, Kai transformed back into similarly small but very female Nami. With a nice top, a pair of tight shorts and a different, more feminine pair of flip-flops, she exited the stall, shouldering the duffel bag that carried all her men's clothes. After tying her hair up into her customary high ponytail, resting her aviator sunglasses on her head and doing her make-up, Nami left the washrooms and started down the escalators. She had to pass through the women's clothing area on her way down and was going to breeze through the area when a small commotion at one of the stores stopped her from continuing her descent. Nami looked over curiously at a few rather large men who were pressing in on a young woman.

"We loved you in your last movie!" One guy, wearing a large blue backpack said excitedly.

Another guy nodded in agreement, pushing his glasses up his nose but having them slip down again.

"Thank you for your support. But, um, I really have to go." The young woman had on a hat and a surgical mask people wore during allergy season or when they had a cold. Nami assumed it was probably a disguise, if she really was a celebrity...

"We're some of your biggest fans!" A guy with small eyes set close together had a hand on her arm, refusing to let go. "We're just... just, could you just come with us?"

"We can go for food." Backpack-man said desperately, weaving this way and that to prevent her from ducking around them.

"No, thank you. I'm waiting for someone."

"Who are you waiting for?" Small-eyes' eyes narrowed in suspicion. Then he got excited. "Is it another idol?"

"Um..." The girl's hesitation set the men off and their excitement became something else.

The guy with the hand on the girl's arm tightened his grip, the tone of his voice accusatory. "Are you just making excuses so you don't have to hang out with us?"

"Are you really waiting for someone?" The questions came fast and angry.

"We're your fans. Shouldn't you want to make us happy?"

"Ano..." The salesgirl was desperately trying to get the three men to stop harassing her customer but she was having little success.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting!" Nami called out loudly and trotted over. She was small, but the way she walked and the booming quality of her voice made the men part for Nami, who immediately moved in front of the harassed woman. "We're gonna get icecream, right?"

"Who are you?" One of the men demanded. He was the one with the small eyes.

"Her friend." Nami glared back, not liking how these three guys were hounding this one girl. "Honestly, get lost before I call security."

The two guys behind small-eyes grabbed their friend nervously.

"Come on, lets go." A security guard was actually heading their way, finally hearing the commotion. The three harassers beat a hasty retreat.

Nami turned around to face the woman she had been defending. "You alright?"

The young woman's eyes were full of relief and gratitude as she pulled down her mask, revealing the sweetest smile Nami ever had the pleasure of seeing. "Yes, I'm fine now. Thank you so much for your help."

"It's fine." Nami grinned, feeling gangly and hyper in the wake of that smile. "Some guys just don't know when to take a hint."

Accepting a few more 'thank you's, Nami watched the woman walk away, a little bit intrigued by this girl. She was really pretty, from what Nami could see of her face. Real pretty.

"Thank you so much." It was now the salesgirl's turn to thank Nami and even the security guard that had showed up smiled at her and gave her a nod of approval. Nami brushed off the thank you's awkwardly, not used to this much gratitude. Finally, she turned away and headed to the escalators, taking out her cellphone to start emailing Asahi to tell her friends she was on her way. Engrossed in her phone, Nami was startled when a pair of arms circled around one of her own.

"Hey, I decided to wait for you here instead of the icecream place! Did you get what you needed?" The pretty woman from before smiled down at the shorter Nami.

Bewildered, Nami was about to pull away. "What-"

"Onegai shimasu." The smiling face hid the panic in the other girl's wide eyes as they darted off to the side, then back to Nami, then back to the side again. Nami looked over discreetly and could see the three guys that were harassing her from before, lurking around in a shop and glancing their way from time to time.

"Onegai." It was hard to resist the pleading tone laced in the words the pretty girl whispered through her too-wide smile.

"Yeah! I got what I needed!" Nami said loudly enough for everyone within a ten foot radius to hear, smiling back at the woman. "Which icecream place do you want to go to? Oh, or would you rather have crepes?"

"Whichever you prefer." The woman leaned a bit closer and whispered the next words. "I'm so sorry. Really, I just panicked when I saw them then I saw you and grabbed you immediately. I just don't want this to become a big thing and have to get the authorities involved."

"It's fine." Nami smiled, feeling oddly at ease with this other girl she didn't know. The surgical mask came off and the woman gave another smile that was just too sweet for words.

"I'm Maeda Atsuko."

"Umm... I'm Kawachi Nami. Hajimemashite." Nami returned the smile with a bright one of her own. Atsuko, meanwhile, was slightly disappointed that this girl didn't seem to know who she was. Usually, she was hardpressed to find people who didn't know who she was. And secretly, Atsuko would've been really happy if her saviour was a fan of hers.

_Girls, change of plans. I have a mission to run and I'll meet you for dinner afterwards!_ Nami typed out the message quickly and sent it. Her phone chirped back at her within a few seconds.

_Booo. You suck. We'll check out guys without you then - from Asahi and Hinata._

"Sorry, did you have other plans...?" Atsuko felt a prickle of conscience as Nami cursed her friends under her breath.

"No, no." Nami grinned, quick to reassure her new-found friend. She could go to the beach any time. But right now, she was on a mission of mercy! "The important thing is getting rid of these guys and making sure you're okay. Come on, lets run and try to lose them!"

Grabbing hold of Atsuko's hand, Nami started running and Atsuko followed the spirited girl, laughing with pleasure, enjoying the excitement on Nami's open face.

* * *

"Yeaaaah!" Hinata was out in the water, splashing around excitedly just like a little kid. In fact, she LOOKED like a little kid with arm floaties on and a big inflatable ring she had around her waist. She was barely knee-deep in the water and would run back up the beach when waves came rushing in, squealing excitedly.

"Be careful!" Asahi was sitting down under a beach umbrella they had rented, relaxing, half-heartedly flipping through a magazine and people-watching. In a cute pink bikini with a floppy wide-brimmed straw hat, she sighed blissfully.

"Asahi! Come in, the water's warm!" Kids ran around Hinata, naturally attracted to her exuberance. "We can have a sea cucumber fight!"

"Sea cucumber?" Asahi frowned. That didn't sound fun at all and she voiced her opinion. "That's not fun!"

"It is! They're squishy!"

"Are there even any around there?" Asahi called back, still frowning. "Aren't they dangerous?"

Hinata shrugged happily. "The kids are helping me find some. Right, kids?"

The children around Hinata all raised one fist in the air in unison. "RIGHT!"

"She naturally attracts children, huh?" A voice next to Asahi startled her. Crouching next to her blanket was a young woman in a blue and yellow bikini and short jean shorts, smiling at her with the most charming dimples. "Your sister?"

"No, my friend." Asahi sighed as Hinata giggled histerically, fishing for pieces of coral in the shallow waters.

"It's easy to mistake you two for sisters," The mystery girl rubbed her chin, a smile on her face. "You're the older sister, of course, watching her younger sister carefully to make sure she doesn't drown."

"She's barely wet." Asahi pointed out.

"I bet if she disappeared, you'd be all like, 'NO! Where is she? I'm soooo worried!' It'll be so older sister of you!" The dimpled girl teased.

"I'm not her older sister-" Asahi looked back out into the ocean again, suddenly aware that Hinata's excited gigglings didn't fill the air anymore. Nor was she standing tall in the midst of the splashing children. "Where is that girl? Hinata? Hinata!"

But there was no reply. There was no way Hinata could have ran off somewhere that quickly, Asahi was sure! Getting up frantically, the tall girl tore her hat off and ran towards the ocean, feeling a bit light-headed with panic.

"Hinata! Hinata!" Asahi shouted, wading in to almost knee-deep before she was startled by Hinata suddenly emerging from the water like some deep sea creature. "Yaaaaa!"

"AHHH!" Hinata joined in Asahi's screaming, happily. A quick bop on the head stopped Hinata though and she pouted as Asahi put her hands on her waist, furious.

"You idiot! I was afraid you had drowned!"

"I was looking for sea cucumbers." Hinata muttered, rubbing her head.

"See," The girl with the cute smile was splashing towards them. "Totally big sister attitude."

"Asahi totally has a big sister feel to her, doesn't she?" Hinata agreed with the stranger. "A pretty older sister type."

"Yeah." The smile-y stranger reached up, and to Asahi's astonishment, tugged gently at one of her ears. "Her ears are so cute!"

"Right?" Hinata nodded happily, reaching up to tug on Asahi's other ear.

"Stop that! Guys, stop it!" Asahi shook her head, freeing her ears from the grasping hands.

"I love Okinawa!" Hinata exclaimed, loving the fact that she was with friends and playing in the sun and water. If only Nami was here too, it would be even better!

"Geez, the sun is so hot," The blue-and-yellow bikini'd stranger commented. "Why don't we go get some drinks at some of the beach-side stalls?"

"Lets go, lets go!" Hinata splashed around excitedly. "I want lemonade! And corn! I want roasted corn!"

It wasn't until the three girls had settled down with corn and cold beverages in the shade that Hinata looked up from her food at Asahi and asked, "Hey, who's your friend?"

"I don't know her." Asahi looked at the girl sitting next to her on the bench eating her corn happily. Seeing the two girls eyeing her, the smile-y girl quickly took a sip of lemonade to clear the food in her mouth and grinned at the two.

"Hajimemashite. Oshima Yuko desu!" Yuko introduced herself cheerfully.

"Hajimemashite." Hinata gave a polite bow. "Otawa Hinata desu."

"Wakamatsu Asahi." Asahi shifted away a bit because this strange girl was sitting almost shoulder-to-shoulder with her, but Oshima Yuko followed right along, moving so close that she was practically sitting on Asahi's lap.

"Oshima Yuko..." Hinata tapped her chin with a finger, saying the name aloud. "Oshima Yuko... would you be... THE Oshima Yuko?"

"Oshima Yuko?" Asahi couldn't move away any further from Yuko, having reached the end of the bench and was quite unhappy as Yuko wrapped one arm around Asahi's arm.

"She used to be a child actress and faded from the public eye for a while. Now she's making a comeback and she's been in the public eye a lot... you look a lot like her." Hinata rubbed her chin and studied Yuko suspiciously.

"No, that ain't me!" Yuko laughed loudly, waving her hand in front of her in a 'it ain't me!' kinda gesture. "But it's surprising, really. I know who you're talking about cuz TONS of people think I'm THAT Oshima Yuko... apparently I look a lot like her. And it's even funnier cuz I have the same name as her!"

"Hm," Hinata's eyes were still narrowed suspiciously. "Are you suuuuure?"

"Hey, if I was really that Oshima Yuko, would I be telling everyone who I was?" Yuko pointed out with a grin.

"Yeah, that's true..." Hinata conceded and finally smiled.

"Hey, lets hang out together!" Yuko suddenly suggested enthusiastically. "The friend I was with ran off to prepare for some co-workers that would be arriving soon, says she has a surprise for one of them. So I'm all alone..."

"Yeah, lets all hang out together!" Hinata agreed before Asahi could say anything. "One of our friends also ditched us!"

"Boo on them!"

"Yeah!"

Hinata and Yuko were getting along quite well, it was only Asahi who had reservations.

"Come on, nyan-nyan." Yuko hugged Asahi's arm closer to her bosom and the taller girl wondered if the other girl realized her boobs were rubbing up against Asahi. "We'll have so much fuuuun!"

"Yeah, nyan-nyan!" Hinata giggled at the nickname.

"Why are you calling me nyan-nyan?" Asahi pouted.

Yuko tugged on Asahi's ear again, a mischeivous smile on her face. "You remind me of a cat I had. Nyan-nyan."

"Stop that!" Asahi pressed her hands against her ears, blushing hotly. She was a bit sensitive about her big ears. Back in grade-school days, classmates had called her 'Dumbo'. The nickname had gotten so popular, even her teachers had casually referred to her as that!

"So lets go back to the ocean, nyannyan!" Yuko waggled her eyebrows at Asahi. "You haven't even gotten your top wet!"

"You're like a big pervert, aren't you?" Asahi dragged her heels as Hinata and their new-found friend pulled her towards the ocean. Despite Asahi's misgivings about Yuko, the three of them had lots of fun, playing with the kids that Hinata had been hanging out with before. They spent time looking for shells and corals that the ocean left on the beach, built sand castles and ran into the ocean when it got too hot. There were quite a few guys 'casually' walking by who stopped to chat the girls up but Yuko always put them off. Asahi, though she enjoyed the attention from the guys, was fine with that. Just playing with kids in the water with Hinata and Yuko was enough and she really wanted to relax after all the work they had been doing and will be doing soon.

And now, they were all out in the water playing with a beach ball.

"Catch, Hinata!" Asahi hit the multi-coloured beach ball in Hinata's direction. Hinata hit it upwards and one of the children bopped it back into the air towards the space between Asahi and Yuko.

"I got it!" Yuko ran for the ball but far from getting it, it bounced off her head and she lost her balance, arms doing crazy circles while trying to catch her balance.

"Yuko-" Asahi waded forward, to try and stop the smaller girl's faceplant into the ocean when Yuko desperately grabbed at Asahi's chest, righting herself in the process.

"Thanks!" Yuko grinned up at Asahi. Asahi frowned. Something was definitely wrong...

"Hm." Yuko had a strange look on her face, her brows furrowed as she squeezed the softness in her hands experimentally. It was... it... this was incredible! This feeling of FULLNESS in her hands, as if these boobs were MADE to mold perfectly into her hands! There was the right amount of squishiness and resistance as Yuko continued squeezing, and, lifting a bit-the exactly perfect amount of bounce and jiggle!

"Your..." Yuko actually had tears in her eyes. "Your boobs are a work of ART!"

"S-stop!" Asahi pulled away but not before letting out a truly lewd sound. "Ahnnnnn!"

"Woah." Hinata watched the scene, wide-eyed while the children giggled a bit, unsure of what was going on but like all children, they found anything to do with 'boobs' or 'penis' hilarious. Mortified, Asahi started running towards the shore. Yuko was quick on her heels, a determined look in her eyes. From the very first moment she had spotted the long-haired beauty on the beach, she KNEW Asahi was special! She had the body of a goddess and now her boobs... god, HER BOOBS.

"Chotto matte!" Yuko hit the beach running, the wet sand not slowing her down at all. She was pretty athletic while Asahi, who was flailing her arms wildly as she ran, was obviously not.

"Nyan-nyan!" Yuko ran ahead of Asahi and tried to make the girl face her. Unfortunately, Asahi couldn't stop her forward momentum and barreled straight into Yuko, bringing them down into the sand.

"Oof!" The air was completely knocked out of Yuko's lungs and she was seeing stars since her head hit the wet sand pretty hard.

"Daijoubu?" Asahi was quick to ask and was about to move off Yuko when the other girl's HANDS ON HER ASS stopped her.

"You're..." Yuko was crying. Whether from pain or from the sheer AWESOMENESS of the feel of Asahi's ass in her hands, nobody would really know except for Yuko. "PERFECT."

* * *

It had been an awesome day to say the least. They had lost the weirdos chasing Atsuko and were now at a beachside restaurant, sitting out in the patio. The two had gotten crepes after running away from the guys then decided to get out of the area in case those three fans were still around. They had gone from the shopping district to Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, holding hands like children as they gaped at the various ocean life. There, Nami found out the girl with the cute face loved manta rays while Atsuko found out that her short companion found the whale shark unbelievably fascinating.

Even though Nami and Atsuko could've parted ways after the aquarium, Atsuko had asked Nami to hang out with her. They were having a lot of fun, for some odd reason, so Nami had agreed. And here they were now, late in the day and still with each other. There wasn't anybody else on the patio and they were laughing together which they had been doing all day. Nami would say something funny, Atsuko would give a funny reply... they just got along really well, like a house on fire!

"Your friends must be missing you right now." Atsuko pointed out when their laughter finally died down. Sipping her iced coffee with the sun lighting up her fair features, Nami couldn't help noticing that her friend was beautiful and felt a little bit self-conscious.

"N-nah." Nami distracted herself by wolfing down a spoonful of her cream and fruit parfait. A chiming sound and Nami looked up just in time to see that Atsuko had taken a photo of her with her cellphone.

"What?"

"I wanted to capture Nami's cute moment." Atsuko giggled and showed Nami the photo. "Kawaiiii!"

"That's a horrible picture!" Nami protested upon seeing herself on Atsuko's phone with a 'deer in headlights' look and cream and chocolate sauce all over her lips.

"I think it's cute." Atsuko pouted. "And I'm always right!"

Spending the day together, they had plenty of inside jokes already and Nami felt like she was talking to an old friend. As the shorter of the two girls got ready to protest the 'always right' comment, she was interrupted as Atsuko grabbed Nami's phone.

"Hey, don't just take people's phones." Nami half-heartedly protested, not really minding. Atsuko just smiled and walked over to Nami's side leaning in close, holding the phone up in the air to take a photo of the both of them together.

"Ichi, ni, san... chiii-zu!" Nami's phone chirped and Atsuko turned the phone back around so the both of them could look at the picture. Nami grinned at the photo. It was pretty cute with Atsuko giving a smile that scrunched up her nose adorably and Nami's toothy grin with a 'peace' sign thrown in.

"Yours too." Nami picked up Atsuko's phone and pressed the camera button. "Hai! Chiii-zu!"

They took a look at the picture and both of them started cackling at the faces they had pulled. Nami had one eyebrow raised with her chin tilted up a bit, looking hardcore. Atsuko was pouting her lips out, looking about to kiss Nami's cheek while giving the camera an 'oh no! caught on camera!' look.

"Send me that pic!" Atsuko shook Nami's shoulder excitedly and they both turned on their infrared function to send each other the pictures they took. Right after the send completed though, both of them got a message on their phone.

_ Nami! We're going back to the hotel and you should meet us there! Asahi's gone into shock!_ Hinata's mail was worrisome.

_What happened_

_I'll explain when you get to the hotel!_

_ I'll be there soon_

"It looks like my friends need me." Nami closed her flip phone with a snap, just as Atsuko finished sending her own reply to the message she received.

"I have to go too..." Unhappiness was evident in Atsuko's voice.

"Hey, maybe we'll see each other again some time before we leave Okinawa." Nami said, her voice falsely bright. Both of them knew the truth, though. The one topic they had both not touched on was what they did for work. Nami didn't ask Atsuko if she really was a celebrity and Atsuko didn't ask Nami what she did either. Nami knew, with her busy schedule now, there would be no time at all to see Atsuko.

"Yeah, or maybe we'll be able to meet once we both get back to Tokyo." Again, both of them knew it would be impossible. Atsuko's schedule was packed enough as it was. On a rare day off, most people had other things to do and didn't have time for Atsuko. Atsuko was sure her new friend wouldn't make time for her if she ever got a day off...

"Hey, don't be sad." Nami had Atsuko in a gruff hug, not really one for physical affection, but showing it because she knew Atsuko needed it.

"Hey..." Pressed up against Nami and hugging back fiercely, Atsuko relished how good Nami's hug felt. "Um... well.."

"What?" Nami asked gruffly, still hugging Atsuko. For some odd reason, Nami could feel herself blushing and she didn't want to let go of Atsuko until the heat in her face subsided.

"Maybe we can exchange emails?" Her tentative question actually made Nami 'awwww' on the inside.

"What?" Atsuko saw the look on Nami's face, feeling very subconscious. "Um... you don't have to, you know-"

"No, no!" Nami picked up her phone again. "Infrared! I'll send you my info!"

While Atsuko was fiddling with her phone, Nami took a quick picture of Atsuko. With the sun in the back and a light wind sweeping Atsuko's silky hair up, the picture looked almost professional.

"Okay, ready!"

"You're very photogenic, eh?" Nami pointed her phone at Atsuko's phone as they sent their contact information to each other. Knowing that they had to part soon was putting a damper on their spirits as they paid for their drinks and made for the front. There was only one taxi there so Nami held the door open for Atsuko.

"What a gentleman." Atsuko teased.

"Yeah yeah," Nami rolled her eyes. "Don't let the door hit you on the way in."

"Mean!" Atsuko grinned at Nami as she ducked into the cab. Neither one seemed willing to go, though. Atsuko kept one hand on the door to prop it open, half-in the car. Nami had a hand on the door, unwilling to shut it.

"Well..." Nami chewed on her lower lip, really not wanting Atsuko to leave.

"I'll see you around?" Atsuko pulled out her phone and opened it. The wallpaper was the picture of her and Nami, pulling their funny face. Brandishing it, she shook the cellphone. "I'll mail you!"

"Yeah." Nami smirked, then held out her hand. "Well. See ya."

Atsuko took Nami's hand and shook it firmly, once. "I'll be seeing you, Kawachi Nami."

"Later, Maeda Atsuko." Nami watched Atsuko slide in and closed the door for the beautiful woman, watching as the taxi pulled away. Atsuko was also watching Nami's small figure getting smaller until the taxi turned a corner and Nami was gone from her sight.

"Miss, where to?"

"Oh!" Atsuko pulled out a piece of paper from her bag, scanning the information on it. "Um, Okinawa Marriott, please."

Nami had felt a pang when Atsuko had finally disappeared from sight and let out a loud sigh. Her melancholy was interrupted by the sound of her phone alerting her to a new message. Hinata again.

_Remember, your room is for Kai. So Nami shouldn't show up at the front desk._

"Right," Nami breathed out and headed back into the restaurant. She'd change in the washroom then grab the next taxi to her hotel. Meanwhile, she just kept on thinking about Atsuko. It had been weird how quickly and how well they got along. Atsuko and Nami's personalities were almost completely different from each other, but it was like a meeting of souls today.

"Huh." Nami quickly changed into Kai, stepping out of the stall to check his hair in the mirror, wondering dryly what Atsuko would think of Kai.

'Hopefully nothing like how Ray thinks of Kai.' Kai shuddered, suddenly feeling a chill run down his spine. The way the charismatic diva hung all over him was frickin' weird! 'Speaking of which... I'm due for a daily update from the songstress herself right-'

Kai's phone chimed, signaling he had a message.

'-now.' Popping his phone open, he opened the message and grimaced. It was who he expected it to be.

_Kai! *heart*heart*heart* How's Okinawa? I have filming for a late night show tonight, will you watch it? I hope you will! Tell me what you think! I miss you SOOOOO much. Oh, and don't look at any girls *angry face* Instead, look at me! When you get back, lets go out together, okay? You can tell me all about your trip! __*heart*heart*heart*__ Ray_

The diva had taken a picture of herself giving the camera a very sultry look. She was in a very cute dress with one strap slipping off her shoulder and the dress hanging dangerously low.

"Big pervert." Kai grumbled as he typed back a reply. He had to admit though, Ray looked incredible in that picture.

_It's hot here. And I'm not looking at any girls, don't worry. Don't work too hard, okay?_

Kai sent the message and stuffed his phone back into his pocket and headed out of the restaurant and into a cab. While heading to the hotel, he pondered over the way his life had changed since entering Persona, especially the Ray aspect of it and these emails from her. It was hard to just ignore the charismatic diva. Her messages were just so... infuriating! Kai just HAD to reply. Like really, what the hell was with that 'don't look at any girls' and that sexy photo?

Fuming, Kai practically threw money at the taxi driver when they arrived at Okinawa Marriott. No matter what, Ray always worked him up into a fervour!

"Kai!" Kuu waved Kai over, all of them dressed in their clothes from the late morning shopping trip. Marilyn and Saeko were at the front desk, signing in for themselves.

"What happened?" Kai's fury at Ray's message subsided when he saw Riku's dead expression.

"Riku's been like that since..." Kuu lowered his voice. "Some girl we met at the beach grabbed Asahi!"

"Riku?"

"No, ASAHI. Female ASAHI." Kuu whispered.

"What?" Kai was confused.

"We were hanging out with some girl we met at the beach. Then..." Kuu shrugged. "She started feeling up Asahi." Kuu went over briefly what had happened. "...then after Asahi had gotten up, she slapped the other girl and ran for it back to our spot on the beach and grabbed all our things then insisted that we leave. She hasn't talked since then."

Kai stared at Riku. Actually spent a good few seconds staring. Then the blonde exploded, howling with laughter. That snapped Riku out of it as he glared at Kai.

"It's not funny!" Riku snapped. Kai just continued laughing, doubled over.

"It's loud over there." Mariko noted, trying to look over and see what was going on in the lobby. However, several pillars were in the way and she gave up quickly, turning back to a depressed Yuko. Atsuko was sitting on the other side of the morose woman, patting Yuko's back sympathetically. All three were sitting at a bar with Mariko and Atsuko trying to stop Yuko from running up a huge tab.

"She was perfect!" Yuko moaned glumly, downing her gin and tonic in one gulp. "Bartender!"

The bartender wordlessly placed another drink in front of Yuko.

"I didn't even get her number!"

Far from comforting her like Atsuko was doing, Mariko was scolding the perverted actress.

"Serves you right!" Mariko crossed her arms, scowling. "You know, most girls let you feel them up because-I actually don't know why they let you, but this girl didn't! That's the normal reaction to sexual harassment-"

"SKINSHIP!" Yuko bleated.

"SEXUAL HARASSMENT." Mariko snapped back, then lowered her voice. "You're just so gay!"

"I'm not gay!" Yuko shot back. "I just appreciate women's bodies a lot!" Yuko gave Mariko a slightly pitying look. "Even those with no shape-"

"You shut the hell up!" Mariko's eyes narrowed. She was just really skinny! Her body-type was perfect for modeling! Yuko just didn't appreciate that!

"Look at this-" Yuko had both hands pressed against Mariko's bosom to emphasize her point and immediately, her mouth turned down in a frown. "WHAT is this?"

"Stop that." Mariko slapped Yuko's hands away who immediately turned to Atsuko to cup the other girl's breasts. Atsuko just stared at Yuko impassively.

"Atsukoooo..." Yuko had tears in her eyes, her lower lip trembling. "She was PERFECT."

In reply, Atsuko flicked Yuko on the forehead with her fingers and the smaller woman grabbed her forehead, hissing in pain.

"Anyways," Mariko crossed her arms. "Don't be all lovey-dovey with the guys from Persona tomorrow. That'll cause a scandal for sure."

"How could I even think about guys now?" Yuko threw up her hands helplessly, then reached for her drink. Tossing it back in one gulp, she motioned for another one. "I let perfection get away! Why didn't I ask for her number?"

"If you're not good tomorrow, Ohori-san will kill you." Mariko warned. Yuko waved away the tall girl's concern, sipping at the new drink in front of her.

"She's useless right now." Mariko sighed and shook her head at Yuko. "So gay."

"She'll be fine tomorrow." Atsuko said confidently. Yuko had a pretty high tolerance for alcohol and even if she got drunk, she never got a hangover.

"Here's to perfection!" Yuko raised her glass in the air, toasting the one that had gotten away.

"We'll be meeting with the writer again," Mariko sighed. "She's experiencing some writer's block and wants to see Persona and us together, maybe get a feel for our chemistry."

"Maybe I can save her some time. Here's what I'll be feeling: indifference." Atsuko deadpanned, now wishing she could drink too. She had heard about her co-stars and really didn't feel like meeting more young up-and-comers. Doing this drama, 'Three Sisters', had seen them go through a lot of co-stars and she HATED the young ones the most. She was pretty young herself, but she'd have to say she took her job a lot more seriously than most of the new ones. It was always drama with them and she hated that they thought that working with her automatically made them BFFs. She wished Nami was here...

"There there, it'll be alright." Mariko reached over to pat Atsuko's hand sympathetically. She understood Atsuko's prickliness and shared some of it herself, though she was better at hiding it than Atsuko. That was why Atsuko didn't have very many friends.

"Why did you insist on getting that group to come co-star with us?" Yuko, though slightly tipsy, was still together enough to join in on the conversation. "You usually don't like your men young-"

"I don't like them!" Mariko growled, her eyes narrowed to slits and the look on her face was terrifying. "This is revenge."

Kuu, just passing the restaurant on the way to the washroom gave a little shiver. It felt like someone had just walked over his grave...

"Hurry up! Saeko wants to go eat soon!" Riku walked past Kuu, catching his friend's arm and pulling him along.

"Wait up, guys!" Kai wasn't far behind as they trotted towards the restrooms. Atsuko turned around just in time to catch the back of a blonde head disappearing round the corner.

'Can't be.' Atsuko shook her head, turning back to her friends who had started arguing animatedly. 'I'm going crazy.'

* * *

endnote: So? How'd you like it? :D Look out for more as next chapter, Persona and the top three finally meet OFFICIALLY!


	10. Chapter 10

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 10

author's note: So they meet. WHAT HAPPENS? DUNDUNDUN!

* * *

The two groups stared at each other.

And stared.

And stared some more.

Marilyn was trying not to glare at Ohori Megumi, but failing. Megumi and Saeko were looking at each other, pain apparent in both their eyes.

Riku was staring, wide-eyed and afraid at Yuko, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

Kai wore a deer-in-headlights expression while Atsuko just frowned at the blonde, wondering why the short young man's face looked so... familiar.

Kuu and Mariko were glaring at each other in unbridled, unchecked HATRED.

"Well." Megumi finally cleared her throat to break the silence. "Why don't we all sit down and wait for the writer to come in? She's running a bit late..."

Nobody moved at first, until Atsuko shrugged and took a seat, Kai immediately going to take a seat opposite the woman. This in turn prompted everyone to grab seats with Yuko facing Riku, Mariko facing Kuu and Saeko facing Megumi with Marilyn sitting beside her manager. But now, with everyone seated, Riku and Kai were both looking down at the table, trying not to make eye contact with the person sitting opposite them. Kuu had a white-knuckled grip on the table, shooting daggers out of his eyes at the smirking woman opposite him just KNOWING that their meeting was no coincidence.

"Well," Ohori Megumi had to clear her throat several times before she could get the words out. "I guess we should do introductions."

"We should." Saeko smiled at Megumi. Marilyn glanced between the two managers, really REALLY unhappy at the looks they were sharing.

"I am Kamonohashi Saeko, of Kamonohashi Entertainment. This is my secretary, Marilyn." Saeko nodded towards Marilyn. The perky secretary gave Megumi a tight smile.

"Ohori Megumi of Ohori Productions." Megumi took off her sexy librarian glasses. "Yoroshiku. And this is..."

Mariko smirked at Kuu, her eyes only for the angry young man. "Shinoda Mariko. Yo-ro-shi, Kuu."

Kuu's left eyebrow twitched, not missing the way Mariko played his name into her greeting. The slim, well-manicured hand she held out to the young man made him even angrier. She was still smirking at him, waiting for him take her hand in his. Well, she could just forget about it-

"Kuu!" Marilyn hissed. "Shake her hand!"

Relunctantly, he reached forward. "I'm Kuu of Persona. Yoroshi-wahhh!"

Kuu yanked his hand back, infuriated. Mariko had tickled his hand! She had tickled the palm of his hand! HE WAS GOING TO KILL HER!

"Kuu!" Saeko GLARED at him.

...Later. He would kill her later when no-one was watching and there were no witnesses.

All three members of Persona mumbled out their 'yoroshiku's and introductions moved on to the next pair.

"Maeda Atsuko." Maeda dipped her head slightly, watching the blonde with the bowed head with interest. It was funny. Most of the new ones wanted to make a good impression, or they would stare at her in slack-jawed awe. This one seemed almost... shy. It was cute.

"Kai of Persona." Kai mummbled and bowed, his head hitting the table. "Ow."

Atsuko let out a little giggle as Kai lifted his head completely, rubbing at the sore spot on his forehead.

"It's not funny." Kai had sadface on.

"It's just a little bit funny." Atsuko smiled at the slight young man. Their conversation flowed easily and she felt an almost instant connection with this person. Why was that?

"Atsuko finds everything funny, though." Kai pointed out, smiling, but immediately clammed up after that and bowed his head again. Atsuko, meanwhile, had both eyebrows raised and was studying Kai. REALLY looking at him. She was SURE she knew him from somewhere, now. The familiarity with how he referred to her and the thing he had said... and his face. She KNEW that face.

"Yoroshiku." Kai mummbled, sweating. Right now, it seemed like Atsuko couldn't really recognize him... but if she did, he would be in for a world of TROUBLE!

Again, a round of yoroshikus passed the table and it was down to the final pair.

"Hai, Oshima Yuko DESU!" The girl with the dimples grinned. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"

When nobody said anything, Megumi tried to break the tension in the room. It seemed like Saeko's boys were really shy! How precious! "Yuko used to be a child actress, she faded from the public eye for a while, but now she's back and she's become quite popular!"

"I knew it!" Kuu said under his breath.

Riku mummbled his greeting and gave a quick bow, keeping his eyes on the top of the table as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Aw, don't be shy!" Yuko said cheerfully. "I don't bite!"

Riku slowly looked up to find Yuko smiling encouragingly at him. She gave the defacto leader of Persona a casual wave.

"Hi!"

"H-hey." There was not a glimmer of recognition in Yuko's eyes. So that meant... she didn't recognize him? Feeling relieved, Riku straightened up a bit and offered a quick smile. "Um. I'm Riku of Persona. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Riku." Yuko dipped her head in a polite bow.

"So, while we're waiting for the writer, do you boys know anything about 'Three Sisters'?" The blank faces the boys pulled at Megumi's question made the woman sigh. "Of course. Boys seldom watch shows like that. Well basically, the story is about three sisters that are very different from one another. It's about their daily lives and the conflicts they have to face together. That's the very basic story."

Megumi motioned to Mariko. "Mariko-sama plays the eldest sister-"

"Cuz she looks the oldest, right?" Kuu shot in, innocently. Yuko covered her mouth to hide a laugh while a corner of Mariko's mouth was pulled back into an ugly snarl.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kuu fluttered his eyelashes at Mariko innocently. "I mean DISTINGUISHED. The most DISTINGUISHED. Especially with those crow's feet."

There was stunned silence in the room as Kuu smiled pleasantly and Yuko had both her hands covering her mouth to stifle her own laughter.

"Kuu!" Everybody sitting on Kuu's side was looking at him in horror. Kuu usually had more social grace than this! They could be black-listed by these three stars who, from what Marilyn had told them, pretty big names right now!

"No, it's okay." Mariko gave a gracious smile. "I totally understand. It's so nice of you, Kamonohashi-san, to hire someone who was mentally handicapped. I mean, people like him need all the support they can get."

"I'm not mentally handicapped." Kuu glowered at Mariko.

"Oh!" Mariko placed a hand on the side of her face in a show of mock-surprise. "I'm sorry, I just thought, you know... your inability to communicate appropriately with people and you know, you sort of-" Mariko motioned to his face, pursing her lips in contemplation. "-LOOK like you have down syndrome."

Kuu almost lunged over the table at the tall EVIL woman if not for Kai's hand on his arm.

"Kuu!" Kai gave Kuu a frantic look. What the hell was he doing, fighting with the stars of the show they were guest-appearing in?

"Do you two..." Marilyn had a finger on her chin. Their argument, the hostility they were showing each other and the familiarity of which they attacked each other told Marilyn they probably knew each other. "know each other?"

"Yes." The two combatants were locked in a staring competition.

"How did you two meet?" Riku asked curiously.

"Radio. Station." Kuu could barely get the words out. He was just... so... ANGRY!

"We're VERY good friends." Mariko purred. "Right, Kuu-Kuu?"

"I don't like that nickname." Kuu snarled.

"Oh, so you're friends!" Marilyn sighed in relief and everybody at the table let out a laugh. Mariko's laugh was slightly... evil. While Kuu's laughter sounded like a robot's.

"Well, Mariko is the eldest sister and her character name is Fumiko. She's very responsible, works to support her two sisters and has a managerial position at a finance company. She pretty much has her life together. It's just her sisters who are kind of worrisome." Megumi recited the information. There had been numerous co-stars, everybody seemed to want to get in on this drama and this speel was well-rehearsed. "Fumiko also has problems holding down boyfriends because she's intimidating and not 'cute'."

"Like in real life." Kuu said under his breath, loud enough for everyone to hear. Everybody laughed at the joke. Mariko was laughing too, but was also glaring at Kuu, her eyes opened wide in an angry glare. Kuu was laughing uproariously until he suddenly stopped and doubled over in pain.

"Kuu-" Saeko frowned at the young man.

"I'm fine." Kuu gasped out, glaring at Mariko hatefully. Suddenly, Mariko was down on the table too, gritting her teeth in pain.

"Mariko?" Atsuko blinked at the tall woman.

"I'm... fine." Mariko narrowed her eyes at Kuu. Underneath the table, both Mariko and Kuu's shins were developing a nice bruise from the kick delivered by the other.

"Next, we have Atsuko, who will be playing Eri." Megumi continued. "Eri is the middle sister and she's pretty much the bad girl of the group. Her character has lots of boyfriends and she works as a hostess at night to support her spending habits. Her sister Fumiko doesn't know about her job but her younger sister has an inkling. Eri's fun-loving, lively, self-centered and doesn't really care too much about who she hurts, though she does love her sisters a lot. She's a heartbreaker and attracts most of the trouble in the series."

Atsuko smiled a little bit and dipped her head in acknowledgement. Kai looked at Atsuko discreetly, wondering how Atsuko would play the character. Feeling Kai's eyes on her, Atsuko looked up at the blonde who immediately went back to staring at the table.

"Lastly, Yuko plays the youngest sister." Megumi put her glasses back on. "Aki is a quiet girl who's going through university to study to be a doctor. She's very studious and very smart, but she's really timid. At school, she gets picked on a lot by the other students because she's basically the most talented out of all of them and jealousy is an ugly thing. She's easily hurt and she relies a lot on Eri and Fumiko to look out for her. Aki's very trusting and is absolutely devoted to her sisters."

"So the connection between the three sisters is very strong." Riku leaned forward. "It sounds like a very interesting drama."

A knock at the door caught everyone's attention and Megumi smiled at Riku. "You can tell that to our writer personally, then. Kasai-san always loves to hear that someone likes her work."

"Excuse us," A young assistant in a red hoodie and work boots opened the door. She stood aside to let in a whole line up of people as the people already in the room stood up to greet the new arrivals. When everybody was at their place at the table, introductions went around and Persona met the producers of the show, the director and the most important person, the writer.

"Without her," The director laughed. "We wouldn't have a show!"

"That's not true." Kasai Tomomi, a gentle-looking young woman smiled at the people gathered in the room. "Everybody's been very accomodating of me and I'm really grateful."

Kasai Tomomi single-handedly wrote the shows. All the puns, the drama, the little details were worked out by her. Apparently she was a genius in that department and could write an entire story arc within a few days.

"Don't be so humble." A woman with dyed and permed hair and impeccably done make-up patted Kasai's arm, a gesture that spoke of their close friendship. "This is like, the only thing you're really good at. You should be proud!"

"Tomochin-!"

The woman barely managed to sidestep a swipe from Tomomi.

"This is Tomochin-Itano Tomomi." Megumi introduced the mischievous woman. "She's the one to go to for make-up and hair on this set."

"Yoroshiku." Tomochin bowed politely and Tomomi took the opportunity to slap Tomochin on the top of her head.

"Now that we've got the pleasantries aside, should we get down to business?" Saeko was all about work and Marilyn puffed up with pride at the way her shachou commanded the room. She bristled slightly though, when she noticed Megumi looking at Saeko with fond eyes.

"A-actually." Tomomi fiddled with the hem of her blouse. "I haven't gotten to writing in Persona yet, this was so last minute. But-but I want to, um, get a feel for them. To see what characters they could play."

"Well, what can we do?" Riku asked, willing to please. His bandmates nodded, all eager to work. They didn't really understand how things worked and they've never really acted before, but they would try their best!

"Well, I just want to... see all of you in a relaxed setting." Tomomi smiled and her friend Tomochin gave a smirk. "W-why don't we all just have breakfast together? Have you all eaten yet?"

Kai's stomach gave a well-timed growl to answer Tomomi's question.

"No, we haven't." Kai muttered, blushing to the roots of his hair. Atsuko glanced at Kai, amused. That little glance hadn't gone unnoticed as Tomomi tucked that little tidbit away to explore later. It was hard to write up Atsuko's character since Tomomi sometimes sensed she had nothing to work with in Atsuko. There was a void there, sometimes. So having Atsuko play Eri, the heartbreaker, was easy. But it was hard to write in any sort of EMOTIONAL scene with Atsuko. It wasn't that Atsuko didn't try, it was just that the chemistry was always lacking with Atsuko... but it seemed that her and this Kai might be different...

The hotel had spread out a breakfast buffet for them in a meeting room and everyone was digging in. Kai was about to walk back to the table his bandmates had sat down at when he noticed the young assistant in the red hoodie from before eyeing the buffet spread longingly.

"Why don't you eat?"

The girl in the red hoodie shook her head and smiled. Kai knew that she was new here and Tomochin had off-handedly said that she was her assistant and would be following them around. "I gotta wait for everyone else to eat first."

"Who said that?" Kai scowled. He'd seen how hard assistants worked and he wasn't gonna stand by and let someone starve! "By the time you get to eat, I'm pretty sure there won't be any food left."

The line-up was pretty long and the blonde quickly shoved his own platter of food at the girl. "Hope you like what I got. Now go eat fast cuz they might run you off somewhere."

The girl smiled again, thanked Kai quickly and disappeared while the blonde went back around to get food again.

"That was nice." Atsuko commented quietly. She had noticed how the short young man had given up his plate for Tomochin's assistant.

"Eh." Kai dug into his food, not wanting to look at Atsuko straight in the face, afraid that she would see right through him. Atsuko, meanwhile, had noticed that Kai's plate didn't have any strawberries, while his last plate had a tiny heap of them. The buffet was quickly running out of fresh fruit and there had been no strawberries left when Kai went around to get food again.

'Hm.' Atsuko waited until Kai was distracted talking to Riku then quickly shovelled over a few of her own strawberries. The young actress started eating nonchalently when the blonde turned back and was confused as to how there were now a few strawberries on his plate.

"Thanks, Kuu." Kai nudged his friend sitting beside him, assuming it was Kuu who had passed him some strawberries.

Kuu was eating like an animal while keeping his eyes on Mariko who was sitting opposite him again. He had no idea what Kai was thanking him for but bleated back a quick, "you're welcome."

Kasai, also sitting at their table noticed Atsuko and Kai's exchange, though she seemed to be engrossed in a conversation with Tomochin. Interesting. Really interesting. Atsuko never treated people this nice! Could it be... love?

"Hey guys!" Yuko jogged to their table, having ran off before to the buffet to get some more food. "I got a lot of honeydew! Help yourselves!"

"Thanks!" Kuu tried to spear a honeydew with his fork but hit nothing but plate as Mariko swiped it right from under his nose.

"YOU." Kuu narrowed his eyes at the short-haired woman.

"ME." Mariko laughed, chewing on her stolen piece of fruit. This exchange wasn't lost on Tomomi either, filing away the two's interaction for later. Riku and Yuko seemed to gravitate towards each other, but were neither too friendly nor too stand-offish. They were very professional... except Riku seemed almost afraid of Yuko sometimes when she leaned too close to him-

"Stop working!" Tomochin poked Tomomi, knowing her friend well enough to know that Tomomi was working on the details of the drama in her mind. "You haven't eaten ANYTHING."

"I'm eating, I'm eating!" Tomomi grumbled, picking up fork and knife to dig into her western style breakfast. She took a look at what Tomochin was eating and almost immediately regretted it. Nattou, mayonnaise, dried bonitas, a few pieces of oily bacon, scrambled eggs, slices of oranges smashed into a pulp and ketchup all mixed together to look like... basically something someone threw up.

"Why am I your friend?" Tomomi whimpered as she watched Tomochin scarf the conconction down.

"This is delicious." Tomochin declared. "You leave my food alone!"

Tomomi wasn't the only person who had been watching Persona and the Three Sisters' main stars. The girl with the red hoodie stood discreetly nearby, completely unnoticed. And, completely unnoticed, she had a small camera hidden in her hands and was taking pictures of the people at the table. The person featured in most of those photos?

Kai.

* * *

Kasai Tomomi had apparently gotten what she wanted from the breakfast meeting. She had quickly told Tomochin the basic premise of the story and left her to work on make-up and costumes with the boys while she wrote the script.

"Where are you girls going?" Riku asked Yuko as they all waited in the lobby for a van to take them to the filming location.

"Well, we're still filming a couple of episodes from the last story arc that brought us to Okinawa." Yuko explained quickly. Riku, though she was wary of Yuko's perverted ways, was quite impressed by her work ethics. The dimply girl had shown herself to be a hard worker who stayed focused and on task when the situation called for it. Riku really did admire that quality in a person.

"...and that's it for today." Yuko finished listing off what they were doing. "We'll be in the same area as you and we'll probably finish shooting early if the weather continues to be nice like this."

"Lunch is at 1pm for you girls?" Riku glanced at his watch and grinned at Yuko, comfortable enough to make jokes with the girl. "Will you even be hungry then? You tucked in at least three plates!"

"She can eat even more." Mariko jumped into the conversation. "She's watching her figure right now so she ONLY had three plates."

"I have a high metabolism!" Yuko protested.

"Our ride is here!" Tomochin announced. All the young idols hurriedly went to the car with Kai making it there first and opened the door for everybody.

"Get in," Kai waved impatiently, looking off to the side. His plan was to sit as far away from Atsuko as possible and sitting in the front passenger seat would do! Atsuko climbed up but almost fell as her foot slipped a bit on the edge of the van's entrance. Kai was quick to put a steadying hand on the small of her back and push her up, nodding brusquely to Atsuko's 'thank you'.

"Oh, what a gentleman!" Kuu and Riku teased on the way in.

"Yeah, yeah." Kai growled. "Don't let the door hit you on the way in."

Atsuko watched as the blonde waited for Tomochin and her assistant to get in before shutting the door and climbing in the front. Even from the back, she tried to peek up at the young man sitting in front, thoughts running through her head...

"-stop it!" Mariko turned to glare at Kuu who had sat right behind her and was drumming against the back of her seat with his feet.

"Stop what?" Kuu asked innocently as he gave a slightly harder kick.

"Stop kicking my seat!"

"I'm not kicking your seat."

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too, KUU-KUU."

"Riku, tell her to stop calling me that!"

"CHILDREN!" Riku and Yuko both snapped at their friends. Slightly startled at having two people yell at them, both Mariko and Kuu settled down. It was quiet in the car, with all of them wrapped up in their own thoughts when they finally arrived on set. Kai hopped out of the front seat and waited until Atsuko was coming down and offered a hand to help her.

"Don't trip." Kai helped her down then quickly shut the door and joined his friends. Atsuko didn't even have a chance to say thank you before the boys were out of sight, following Tomochin's assistant to a building they had rented out as a temporary headquarters for the filming in Okinawa. It was also very near the beach they had rented to film beach scenes so everything worked out perfectly.

"Come on, everyone's at the beach already." Tomochin herself was in charge of the girls. "My assistant will get the boys done up and I have to work on your make up-Mariko, what's that on the back of your head?"

Patting at the back of her head, Mariko produced a piece of sticky yellow paper.

'I'm Shinoda Mariko and I'm old and love eating boogers!'

"KUU-KUU." The paper was reduced to a crumpled ball in the tall idol's hands. She would get him back for this!

Meanwhile, the boys were in the men's dressing room going through some clothes. Marilyn had sent Tomochin the boys' sizes already and a variety of clothes was laid out for them.

"Okay," The assistant brushed back her red hoodie, revealing silky black hair. "Riku-san, you'll be in smart-casual wear so you can't wear anything more casual than a polo-shirt. The image you're trying to give is rich and on a vacation. Um, no swimwear right now."

"Right." Riku nodded, going to the racks of clothes in his size to find several outfits that fit that description.

"Kuu-san is in business wear almost at all times. But pick out one golfing outfit."

Kuu was at his rack already, going through his clothes. He nodded absentmindedly at the instructions then let out a blood curdling scream as A GIANT SPIDER SRUNG OUT AT HIM FROM THE RACK!

"AHHH!" Kuu swatted the spider away. "Get it off get it off get it off!"

Kai was quick to react, stomping on the huge spider and almost slipped and fell. He grabbed hold of a nearby rack and glared down at the spider.

"It's fake." Kai brushed himself off. "It's made of rubber."

Kuu picked it up off the floor angrily. Pinned to the spider was a little note.

'To Kuu-Kuu. Love, Mariko.'

"Guys, stop playing around." Riku hadn't glanced over at the start of Kuu's screaming and ignored it after. Mariko and Kuu's prankwars was getting ridiculous.

"So..." The assistant stood beside Kai, waiting to catch his attention. "Kai-san, you'll be in casual wear. So t-shirts, shorts, flip-flops, runners. Anything you want. But think light colours... less rockstar and more jock/nature boy."

"Sweet." Kai grinned, already rifling through his clothes. He liked formal wear just fine... but casual clothes were so much more comfortable! They played around with outfits for a while until Tomochin came back and hustled them to a couple of chairs in front of well lit mirrors to do some make-up checks.

"All of you have really nice skin," Tomochin murmurred as she tried out a colour on Riku.

"Yeah. We lucked out on that department." Riku tried to stay still.

"Like really nice skin." Tomochin moved on to Kuu. "It's like none of you have stubble."

The three members of Persona felt a trickle of anxiety.

"Well, you know, trade secret," Kuu laughed nervously. "We, uh, pluck."

"Pluck?" Tomochin raised an eyebrow. "That'll take a long time."

"Y-yup." Kai nodded stiffly. "But we get it when it first comes in. And if there's a lot, we wax."

"Hm. I guess." Tomochin ran a finger along Kuu's jawline. "Your jaw is quite smooth."

They spent the whole morning checking out make-up and outfits until Tomochin had called it a day and they broke for early lunch, the boys huddling together near the table with different types of boxed lunches.

"We don't have stubble." Kuu was looking through the boxed lunches and wondering if he could grab two. He was a nervous eater and damn, he was nervous right now! "Just soft SMOOTH SKIN. What are we going to do? Ai-chan and Fuu-chan are the only ones who did our make-ups for us before and Saeko's okay'd them! But Tomochin-"

"Calm down." Riku was also loading up his plate. "It'll be fine. Trust me. She seemed to buy your plucking excuse. And Saeko's no help right now, she has to deal with administration stuff. We gotta deal with our identities ourselves!"

Kai was looking through the boxed lunches and listening intently to Riku and Kuu's whispered conversation. So when his phone rang, he didn't even look to see who had called him and picked up right away.

"Moshi-moshi." Kai grabbed a sweet-and-sour pork and rice combo then moved on to look at what kind of drinks they had for lunch.

"Kai?"

Kai grabbed a vegetable juice box. "Yup."

There was silence on the other end. Then, "...Nami?"

"Yeah." Kai turned around to find a table to sit at, his attention pulled in several different directions. But the phone call... the phone call was important. What was so important about the phonecall?

"Nami, look up." the voice on the phone commanded.

Kai obeyed and looked up, seeing Atsuko at the entrance to the lunchroom. Atsuko had an unreadable expression on her face as she looked at Kai from across the room. Her phone was pressed against her ear and she smiled a small smile that didn't seem to reach her eyes.

"Nami. Can you see me?" Atsuko asked, her voice coming crystal clear over the phone. Kai's face had paled considerably and he nodded.

'Why didn't I notice right away?' Atsuko wondered as she looked at Kai from across the hustle of the lunchroom. Nami's nose, her chin, her eyes, HER HEIGHT. The way Kai moved like Nami did. Atsuko remembered watching Kai scarf down his breakfast, so like how Nami had eaten her dessert yesterday by the beach.

It hadn't been until Riku and Kuu had made the 'gentleman' comment that Atsuko had finally placed that face. How could she have been stupid? She had the picture that Nami and her had taken as the wallpaper on her cellphone! Everytime she opened her phone, she would see Nami's face.

"I can see you." Kai pushed his lunch and drink into Riku's hand and motioned for him to help him take it to a table and Kai would be right with them. Riku and Kuu shrugged and walked off.

"Nami." Atsuko pursed her lips. "We need to talk."

"Now?" Kai felt like someone was tightening a belt around his ribs. A sense of immense pressure. The secret was out. He had ruined it for everyone. Atsuko seemed to sense his mood and her mouth pulled up into a slightly strained smile to try to reassure him.

"I just want to talk, Nami. Don't worry. I haven't told anyone."

"My name is Kai right now." Kai blurted out. "Just... I'm Kai. At this moment. Do you want to talk now?"

"Not now." Atsuko shook her head. "Tonight?"

"Wanna have dinner?"

"Sure."

"I'll probably be back at the hotel before you... wanna call me when you get back?"

"I can do that."

A beat of silence, then, "Are you on lunch?" Kai asked softly.

"I am... but I'm not hungry." Atsuko waved to Kai. "I'll see you tonight. Ja ne."

Atsuko hung up and left the lunch room, leaving Kai there, staring at his phone, at the wallpaper he had set of Nami and Atsuko together. Atsuko was angry at him. He just knew it. Stuffing his cellphone back in his pocket, Kai went back to his table and found that Yuko and Mariko had joined them. Kuu was embroiled in another bickering match with the short-haired woman and Yuko and Riku were exchanging stories about their mornings with each other.

"Kai, you alright?" Riku noticed Kai's shell-shocked expression in a second.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kai tried a smile, wondering when he had gotten so good at faking it so well.

"I saw you and Atsuko talking to each other over the phone! I didn't know you and Atsuko had already exchanged numbers!" Yuko teased. "Kai, you dog, you! Our princess NEVER gives her number out!"

"What?" Mariko was on Kai in a moment. "Really? I didn't think she liked your type of guys!"

"And what's that supposed to mean." Kai growled back.

"Well," A mischeivous twinkle in Mariko's eyes told Kai that he was going to be the butt of someone's jokes again. "I imagined her liking someone... taller."

"I'm not short."

"I never said you were, shortie."

"You just enjoy getting into arguments with people." Kai surmised suddenly. "No wonder you and Kuu are such good friends."

Kuu pointed at Kai, "You take that back! GOOD FRIENDS? WITH THIS WOMAN? Don't make me laugh!"

"Me and Kuu?" Mariko also wanted to give Kai a piece of her mind. "I... I can't believe you would say something hurtful like that!"

Mariko and Kuu started bickering again, one step away from chucking food at each other. Yuko and Riku, who had gotten used to Mariko and Kuu's fighting, attacked Kai with their questions as one.

"So what'd you two talk about?"

"Probably a date." Riku teased, grinning like crazy. "Ray would be sooooo jealous!"

"Shut up about Ray!" Kai felt a sharp stab of guilt. Why? He wasn't doing anything wrong!

_don't look at any girls_

Kai still had that text message on his phone and it felt like his phone was burning a hole through his pocket. What the hell did Ray mean anyways? Don't look at any girls. Really. The stars of the series he was a guest on were all girls! How could he not look? ...and why was he feeling guilty?

"Ray?" Mariko was back in the conversation again. "THE Ray? I heard rumours..."

Riku was intrigued. "What did you hear?"

"Well," Mariko tapped her chin with one manicured finger. "If you were going on a date with Atsuko, Ray would be VERY unhappy."

"Ray isn't the boss of me," Kai snapped. He and Ray were NOT together like that! "I can go out to dinner with Atsuko if I want to!"

"Dinner?" Yuko squealed gleefully. "Hey, lets all go together!"

"No," Kai immediately rejected the idea, regretting his slip of tongue. "We're just eating dinner alone."

"It IS a date!" Kuu exclaimed, excited. Then his face turned sly. "Ray's going to KILL you!"

"It's not a date and I don't have to answer to Ray!"

Arguing with each other, Kai finally got them off their back when he agreed, grudgingly, to make the dinner a group thing. Finally, everyone dispersed. Riku and Kuu went back to Tomochin to finish up and Yuko and Mariko had to run back to their set. Kai had excused himself to the washroom but instead of going, had run back to the buffet table to grab an extra boxed lunch and a drink.

"You've got a real healthy appetite, huh?" Tomochin's assistant startled Kai and the blonde grinned sheepishly.

"Actually, uh, it's not for me."

"For Maeda?" The girl in the red hoodie was right on the money.

"Yeah." Kai confessed. "Actually, do you know where she is right now?"

"She's practising right now. But I can take you to her."

Kai nodded and followed after the assistant as she lead the way.

"You're like, food guy, right? That's your thing?"

"It's my thing when I have it and someone else doesn't." Kai answered. Something suddenly occurred to him. "Oh damn, I'm sorry! I never caught your name-"

"I never gave it." Kai suddenly noted that the girl's impish smile was just a tiny bit scary. "My name's Watanabe Mayu."

"Nice to meet you." Kai said belatedly, grinning sheepishly. "I'm Kai."

"I know who you are, of course." Mayu turned around to study Kai, that eerie smile still on her face. She was still leading the way and avoided any obstacles in her path easily, as if she had eyes at the back of her head. They finally stopped outside a door where Kai could hear Atsuko's voice inside. It seemed like she was reciting her lines... "Here you go!"

Without another word, Mayu was gone as suddenly as she appeared. Kai didn't even get the chance to thank her yet!

"Well.." Kai shuffled restlessly outside the door. Taking a deep breath, he knocked politely.

"Who is it?"

"It's Kai."

"... I don't want to see you right now. Could we talk later tonight?"

Her answer made Kai's heart sink to his stomach and there was a sudden tightness in his throat.

"Um. Well, I brought you something. I'll leave and you can get it after." Kai put his offering down and left quickly, feeling upset.

* * *

"So who is she to you?" Marilyn felt like they kept on having this argument. She couldn't help it! Saeko just drove her crazy all the time.

"She's just someone from my past." Saeko said cryptically.

Usually Marilyn let things go because Saeko didn't seem to be serious about whatever had happened or she did 'stuff' for work. This other WOMAN was from Saeko's past! And a past she was hiding from Marilyn! "That's not a good enough answer!"

"Excuse me." A knock at the door and someone slipped in the room, closing the door behind her.

"We're having a private conversation here." Marilyn snapped.

Ohori Megumi gave the irrate secretary a wry smile. "I can hear your 'private conversation' from down the hall. And since this sort of involves me, I think I should be in on this too."

Saeko had fallen silent at the sight of Megumi and only after Megumi had finished her speel did Saeko finally say something. What she said though, surprised Marilyn.

"I'm sorry." Saeko was bowing at almost a 90 degree angle.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, sempai." Megumi smiled sadly at the woman who had taught her everything she knew about the business. She had been young, unexperience and clumsy. Nobody really wanted to take this awkward thing to be their assistant because she just kept screwing up. Saeko, however, had been different. She had walked her through everything that one needed to know in this profession, walked her through things as many times as it took Megumi to learn it.

Then, Saeko had fired her unceremoniously. Megumi had been devastated.

"You had your reasons. I'm sorry I blamed you without knowing." It was Megumi's turn to bow this time and Marilyn suddenly felt horribly awkward. Things hadn't been as it had seemed!

"Um..."

"Saeko-sempai taught me everything I needed to know about the business. Then she fired me and kicked me out of Kamonohashi Entertainment." Megumi remembered it like it was yesterday. "I was so angry. She had yelled at me, saying I was too stupid, too slow. So I started Ohori productions to beat out her agency."

"You almost managed to squash me, too." Saeko raised an eyebrow. "But then all of a sudden you stopped. Why?"

Megumi took off her glasses, suddenly angry. "Why didn't you tell me Sarukawa-san was black-balling you?"

"What could you have done?" Saeko shrugged. "Stayed with a baby agency that could barely stay afloat? If I hadn't cut you off, you would've clung on and been on the streets with me if I had failed."

"That's why you fired me."

"You hadn't been paid in months." Saeko muttered. "It was embarassing."

"I would've stayed!"

"I wouldn't have wanted you to. He would have black-listed you, too."

There was a lot of water under the bridge between these two. In the horrible, heavy silence, Marilyn couldn't contain herself and burst out with an apology. "I'm sorry, I thought-"

"It's okay." Saeko smiled at her secretary. "But... could you give us some time alone?"

Marilyn, just a little bit mortified, apologized again and walked out the door. So they had a professional relationship! Hearing such good things about Saeko, however, made Marilyn even happier that she was with her shachou.

"So, I guess omitting our PERSONAL relationship with each other was a smart move on my part?" Megumi chuckled as soon as she knew Marilyn was far enough away from the room not to hear.

"A very smart move. I did teach you well." Saeko smiled but made no move forward.

Megumi grinned, trying to crack a joke. "I remembered you teaching me about the business, but I think in bed it was a bit different."

Saeko, who seemed to have no shame, surprisingly blushed scarlet and let out a weary sigh. "I can't believe some... CHILD knew more about adult relationships than I did. I thought I was pretty experienced back then."

"I wasn't a kid, even back then." Megumi smiled smugly. "And obviously, you weren't as experienced as you thought you were."

There was a long silence, their easy sexual innuendo-laced banter was gone.

"It's... awkward now, isn't it?"

"A bit." Saeko fidgetted. Sex was just sex... but Saeko had cared about Megumi and now she cared about Marilyn. It would be disrespectful to the both of them if feelings got involved.

"We can be friends. I'm not looking for anything more." Megumi had left the heartache behind, her initial anger at Saeko, of course, had helped with the healing process. Now all she wanted to do was rebuild bridges.

Saeko smiled and took Megumi's hand in hers. "I'd like that."

* * *

endnote: ended it with a little bit more of Saeko than I really wanted, hahaha. But I needed to tie up that loose end about her and Megumi's past. I love Ohori Megumi and this is my take on her so far. :P Next chapter... what will happen? SHOCK!


	11. Chapter 11

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 11

author's note: And here's where it veers off the trail COMPLETELY and off a cliff. Enjoy, guys. Enjoy.

* * *

Atsuko was being dragged to one of the hotel restaurants, relunctantly. After their shoot, she had shot off a message to Nami about finishing up and then went with Mariko, Yuko, Tomochin and her assistant to the van that had been arranged to bring them back to their hotel.

"So what are you doing for dinner tonight?" Mariko had asked innocently.

"I'm having dinner with a friend." Atsuko had replied.

"Oh?" Yuko had been sitting behind Atsuko and now leaned forward. "Anyone we know?"

"Just a friend." Atsuko had said evasively.

"Well, we should all have dinner together!" Mariko had announced and quickly invited Tomochin and her assistant. Tomochin also invited Tomomi in the process and even though Atsuko tried her best to decline, they wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Really, I already promised to have dinner with someone else." Atsuko was getting annoyed. She really wanted to talk to Nami and these two were just-

"Atsuko." Kai was standing in front of her wearing a pair of red sneakers, light-coloured jeans and a button up black shirt with sleeves rolled up. His bandmates were also in their casual clothes; Kuu in a v-neck shirt paired with a pair of white shorts and comfortable looking brown loafers while Riku was in dark trousers, black loafers and a white t-shirt.

"Kai? What are you doing here?"

"Sorry." Kai sighed. "These fools saw me talking on the phone with you and figured out we were having dinner together."

"I can't believe you were gonna have a date with Kai and not tell us." Yuko poked at Atsuko. "This is the 'friend' you were going to have a dinner with?"

Atsuko and Kai were both blushing furiously.

"It's not like that!" Kai exclaimed. "It's just, y-you know we're gonna be working close together. A-and I just wanted to get to know Acchan a bit better-"

"Acchan?" Kuu bumped shoulders with Kai, shooting the blonde a sly look. "You have a nickname for her?"

Atsuko looked at Kai in amusement as even his ears turned red.

"Oooo, 'Acchan', huh?" Yuko poked Atsuko. "Do you have one for Kai, Atsuko?"

"That's so cute!" Tomomi had just arrived and heard the last part about the nicknames.

"It just slipped out right now!" Kai blurted out, embarassed to hell.

"Acchan, huh?" Mariko leaned forward to whisper in Atsuko's ears while Kai was being teased by everyone. "Don't do anything that'll cause trouble. We don't want scandals."

Mariko, Yuko and Atsuko were pretty close and were connected with each other because of this Three Sisters drama. A romance scandal wasn't what they needed right now and would attract unwanted attention. It could affect everyone, not just the one girl involved.

"I know." Atsuko replied, a bit harshly. She hated the fact that she had to consider things like this now, who she hung out with, how the press would perceive her friendships with people... it was annoying. Mariko patted Atsuko on the back, knowing exactly what she felt because they all felt that pressure a bit.

"Well, dinner?" Tomochin was hungry and had accepted the offer for food readily. The small group made their way into the restaurant and was tucked into a secluded corner. Yuko was sitting next to Riku, Atsuko next to Riku with Kai shoved in beside her. Kuu slipped in beside Kai and Tomomi, Tomochin and Mayu sat in between Kuu and Mariko to prevent the two from tearing at each other's throat.

All through dinner, Kai would look at Atsuko when she wasn't looking or Atsuko would be looking at Kai. It was amusing to everyone at the table, since Kai and Atsuko were acting like lovestruck teenagers.

"Mmmm..." Riku was sipping at his drink. It was so damn tasty! So tasty he was starting not to care at all what was going on with Kai and Atsuko!

"Kampai!" Yuko had ordered a few more of these drinks and was downing them quickly with Riku.

"Ew ew ew!" Tomomi was pulling a face at what Tomochin was eating. The glamorous hair and make-up artist had gotten the kitchen to prepare raw oysters for her in spaghetti cooked in some garlic-y tomato sauce with lemon juice, cooked ground pork and slices of mango.

"It's delicious!" Tomochin said, after slurping up a raw oyster from the mess that was her meal. Kuu and Mariko were trying to discreetly throw bits of balled-up tissue paper at each other. The table was having a lot of fun and eventually, even Kai and Atsuko had loosened up and Yuko had ordered several rounds of tasty drinks for everyone.

"Matsui Jurina is really cute in person." Kuu confirmed when Tomomi had asked.

"Serious?" Tomomi sighed. "I've always thought she would be. She's so young, though!"

"She's a spunky one." Kai leaned forward. "She's a go-getter. Almost beat us in that ice-cold commercial challenge."

"I watched that!" Atsuko said, smiling at Kai. She remembered watching the three boys in the ice-cold water and had thought Riku and Kuu had been really cute while Kai was way too loud. Who knew that now she preferred to hang out with the blonde of the trio?

"It was so cold." Kuu shivered.

"But nothing we can't handle." Kai high-fived with his bandmates.

"Okay, completely off topic but there's something I want to ask you." Mariko suddenly grinned at Kai. "What's up with you and Ray?"

"NOTHING IS UP." Kai said immediately, feeling Atsuko's eyes on her.

"Ooooo..." Kuu teased. "Kai and Raaaay, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-waaah!"

Kuu barely managed to duck Kai's napkin.

"She's just... a friend." Kai muttered. "Nothing else."

"But she's all over you ALL the time!" Riku sing-songed. Usually, he didn't like to escalate situations like this. But this was fun! "And she writes messages to you!" Raising his voice to a ridiculously high pitch, Riku recited an email from Ray that he had managed to peek at over Kai's shoulder one time. "DEAREST KAI! I MISS YOU! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!"

"Riku!" Kai hissed.

"Oooo," Yuko grinned at Atsuko. "ACCHAN... what do you think about that? Ray's allllll over YOUR Kai."

"I'm not hers!" Kai said and immediately regretted it as Atsuko gave her a bright but dangerous smile.

"That's right." Atsuko sipped at her drink. "Why should I care?"

The temperature at the table seemed to drop several degrees.

"So you don't care?" Kai asked tentatively.

Atsuko raised an eyebrow. "Should I?"

"I don't know?"

"Shouldn't you?"

"I should?" Kai was confused. "I... what are we talking about?"

"Ohhhh!" Tomomi clapped her hands together, squeeing from how ENDEARING those two were! "I'm so excited for the roles Persona's going to be playing in this drama! I feel like it'll all work out now, especially with Atsuko and Kai's characters!"

"So the script's ready?" All eyes were on Tomomi now, eager to know what was going to happen.

"It's ready." Tomomi smiled. "I had a meeting with the producers, director and your managers earlier. They've okay'd it and you'll all get a copy of the finished script by the end of tomorrow."

"You really are a whiz." Kuu said, in awe at the speed with which Tomomi finished her work. "And you did all of this on short notice too!"

"Tomomi's smart." Tomochin patted her friend on the head proudly and Tomomi beamed at the other woman for the compliment. Their food was soon finished and dessert was called. With everybody there, Kai and Atsuko couldn't talk and it seemed as if Atsuko was now deliberately avoiding Kai's eye. Kai was really afraid that Atsuko was really angry at him and he wasn't able to make it better...

'What am I gonna do...' Kai thought as he picked at his dessert. He was slightly startled when he felt a soft hand slip into his own underneath the table. Glancing sideways at Atsuko who was still not looking at him and was talking to Mariko, then glancing down at her hand in his he let out a little smile and started eating his dessert in earnest.

Mayu hadn't spoken that much during the dinner, except for a few times when various people at the table had tried to pull her into the conversation. They were nice people, really...

"How do you like your dessert?" Kai suddenly asked her, wanting to draw the quiet girl into a conversation and distract himself from Atsuko's hand in his.

Mayu smiled at the blonde. Kai's niceness was very cute. Especially since everyone was upfront with their nice-ness and Kai would try to be all nonchalent about it as if he didn't want people to see that he cared. So cute.

"It's good." Mayu replied, looking down at her cake. "How's yours?"

Kai grinned at her, his eyes twinkling. "It's really good. But I don't know if it's the dessert or the fact that I'm with you and everybody here."

To everyone else, it sounded almost like a line some guy would use to flirt with a girl. Atsuko narrowed her eyes as Mayu raised an eyebrow at Kai's comment.

"What?" The clueless blonde blinked.

"You're an idiot." Riku said bluntly.

"Hey!" Kai complained. 'No, really. What'd I do?"

Atsuko withdrew her hand from Kai, shaking her head a bit.

"What?" Kai missed the warmth of Atsuko's hand, his hand felt so empty now with nothing in his grasp except... a slip of paper. He tucked that quickly into his pocket.

"Just forget about it." Yuko looked at Kai, impressed. He was a natural flirt!

"Well," Atsuko wiped her mouth with her napkin. "It's pretty late now. I think I'm going to have to call it a night."

"Aw, really?" Riku pouted. "Why don't you stay longer? The night's still young! And Kaiiii's still heeereee... OoooOooo!"

Yuko joined in on the teasing and Atsuko shot both of them a dirty look that didn't do anything at all except start them off on singing off-key songs about 'Acchan' and Kai.

"Come on," Mariko hung on to Atsuko's arm. She hadn't had this much fun since... well, since she could remember! Even with pieces of napkin in her hair from Kuu's good aim, she was enjoying herself. "Stay longer! We have a long day tomorrow!"

"Lets just keep having fun! We can order more dessert!" Yuko tried to appeal to Atsuko's sweet tooth. When Atsuko didn't look at all moved by the mention of dessert, Yuko tried again. "What about a coffee? A little bit of coffee before bed?"

"Coffee?" Atsuko had a 'are you kidding me?' look on her face.

"A nightcap!" Yuko tried again.

Atsuko stood up and gave everyone a smile. "It's been fun, everyone. I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early!"

"Nooooo!" Kuu drummed on the table, causing Riku to join in too. Soon, everyone at the table except for Tomochin's assistant and Kai was drumming at the table, moaning out 'NOOOOO'.

"Goodnight Kasai-san, Tomochin." Atsuko nodded at the two women and Mayu and placed a hand on Kai's shoulder briefly. She gave everyone else a disgusted look. "Stop that, guys."

"ACCHANNNNN!" Yuko stood up and howled when Atsuko was walking towards the exit of the restaurant. Atsuko threw a glare over her shoulder at Yuko when the remaining patrons at the restaurant stared at her. "ACCHAN!"

"Shhh, shhhh." Riku was giggling, pulling Yuko back down. While everyone was still grumbling about Atsuko being a killjoy, Kai had taken a peek at the slip of paper Atsuko had slipped him.

'1515'

Kai stuffed the piece of paper back into his pocket and grabbed one of the fruity drinks Yuko had ordered, sipping at it. Within twenty minutes, Tomochin announced Atsuko had the right idea and she pulled Tomomi up with her and left with her and her assistant. Riku and Yuko had wandered off to the bar to get more fruity drinks and Kai took this opportunity to escape. The only ones left at the table were Mariko and Kuu, who were glaring at each other.

"It's just us, now." Kuu whispered lowly.

Mariko smirked. "It's just us."

* * *

Kai pressed the up button and waited at the elevator. Pulling out the piece of paper from his pocket, he looked it over again. 1515. He was pretty sure it was a room number. Only one way to find out. The elevator chimed, signaling the arrival or an elevator and Kai slipped in when the door opened. Just before it closed though, a hand shot through to hold the door.

"Hey, watch out!" Kai scowled as he pressed the open button. "That's dangerous-Mayu?"

The young girl smiled at Kai and hopped in, the door closing behind her.

"Kai-san." Mayu had her hood up and she smiled at the blonde.

"I thought you went up with Kasai-san and Tomochin."

"I came down to get something." Mayu replied. She tilted her head to one side. "Which floor are you going to?"

"Um, fifteen, please." Mayu pressed the button and they rode the elevator up together.

"How old are you, Watanabe-san?" Kai asked suddenly. Mayu, even with make-up on, looked no older than fifteen or so.

"Sixteen." Mayu replied.

"You're a bit young, aren't you?" Kai grinned at the girl. "But you're already such a hard worker."

"I have to help out the family." Mayu said after a short silence. The smile that was normally on her face was no longer there as she shrugged. "So I decided to get a summer job and this was the one that paid the best."

The elevator chimed and Kai held the door open with one hand. With the other hand, he patted Mayu on the shoulder, touched by this little girl's responsibility.

"You're a good girl. But you don't need me to tell you that." Kai smiled at Mayu softly. "Good night."

"Good night, Kai-san." Mayu bowed a bit. As Kai quickly walked out and turned a corner down the hallway, he didn't see Mayu stop the elevator doors from closing and dart out. Ducking into the tiny room with the ice machine, she waited a few seconds before quickly walking after Kai. Kai, unaware he was being followed, kept his eyes on the door numbers.

'1507...1509... 1511... 1513... 1515.' Kai stood in front of the door and wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. He then looked up and down the hallway nervously. No-one. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. The sound of a door opening inside and someone padding over to this door was making Kai more nervous the closer that person came.

Atsuko stood on the other side looking through the peephole to see Kai's familiar face. He seemed to know she was on the other side and gave a nervous wave and a smile.

'Nami.' Atsuko sighed, unlocking the door and opening it.

"Uh," Kai blinked at Atsuko's state of dress. She had a bathrobe on and a towel wrapped around her head. Even with her face devoid of make-up, Atsuko was still stunningly pretty to Nami. "Well... hm."

"Come in." Atsuko sighed, reaching out and pulling him into the room. With the click of the door shutting, neither of them had seen Mayu at the end of the hallway with camera in hand. Her mouth set in a grim line, she tucked the camera back into her pocket and left. She wasn't going to wait around. She got what she wanted.

"Sorry, you were taking a shower." Kai blurted out, fidgeting at the door.

"It's fine. I was done anyways." Atsuko sighed, undoing the towel around her head. She studied the young blonde man standing at that door, gave another sigh and locked the door behind him. "Come in."

He did, but was obviously still nervous as he walked stiffly into the room and stood in the center of it, not knowing what to do.

"So." Atsuko crossed her arms across her chest. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry." Kai bowed as low as possible, keeping his head down as he spoke to Atsuko. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't think-I thought I... I dunno. I'm just so sorry."

Atsuko looked at the blonde, head still bowed. With another sigh, she made him stand up and pushed him onto the bed so they were both sitting on the edge.

"Nami." Atsuko reached up a hand and fingered Kai's hair. "Is this a wig?"

"Yup." Kai reached up and undid the bobby pins in his hair, then carefully took his wig off. Underneath the blonde wig was Nami's original hair, pinned up and held down with more bobby pins.

"This must take you forever." Atsuko helped Nami undo her hair and the smaller girl shook her head, struck with wonder at the gentleness of Atsuko's hands.

"I've had a lot of practice."

When Nami's hair was finally free, Atsuko combed her fingers through the length of it, smiling when Nami grinned at her. Were they okay? It seemed like they were. This was still the girl Nami had spent a wonderful afternoon with... it was still Atsuko.

"You don't have to be sorry, you didn't mean for this to happen. I was... just so angry with you at the beginning, when I figured out who Kai was." Atsuko rolled her eyes at Nami and smacked her on the arm for her grin. Nami tried her best to be serious again, but she was just so relieved.

Nami was curious. "When did you find out?"

"I had this HUGE feeling that we knew each other from somewhere when I first met Kai, you looked so familiar." Atsuko replied. "And the way you talked to me at our first meeting like you knew me, I was even more sure that we'd met somewhere before. Everything just kept ringing bells and I guess I subconsciously... responded to you or something. I treated you like, well, like I would treat Nami." Atsuko paused, then smacked a surprised Nami again. "I gave you those strawberries at lunch!"

"Oh? ...oh!" Nami remembered the mystery strawberries that she thought Kuu had given Kai! "I totally thought-"

"Yeah." Atsuko pouted. "Anyways, when we were in the car and you helped me up, then you said to Kuu and Riku-"

"Don't let the door hit your ass on the way in." Nami smacked herself on the forehead. "I totally gave myself away with that, huh?"

"Don't act so disappointed!" Atsuko hit Nami again. This time, Nami wasn't so sure she was off the hook as Atsuko pinned her with an angry stare. "Why are you Kai, anyways?"

Instead of answering, Nami grabbed Atsuko's hand. "Are you angry?"

Atsuko looked at their hands clasped together. "I was a little bit. But you're just so nice all the time, whether you're Kai or Nami... I wanted to confront you right away, but I thought you must have a good reason for doing this. So." Atsuko sat a bit closer to Nami. "Tell me."

"Hm." Now that Nami was in the clear, she was a lot more concerned with how wet Atsuko's hair was. And it was BOTHERING her. "Can we dry your hair while we talk? OW!"

Atsuko landed a hit on Nami's thigh this time.

* * *

"Why are we stuck in an elevator together?" Kuu muttered. Mariko glared at him hatefully from the opposite end of the elevator, though she could barely see him in the darkness. They were still too close for comfort. Mariko and Kuu had both left the restaurant together, eyeing each other distastefully and not trusting the other to not do anything when either back was turned. At the elevator, both had started arguing about who was going up the elevator first with Mariko saying that ladies should go first and Kuu extolling loudly that Mariko was no lady. They had both rushed into the elevator and pressed the button for their respective floors. Furious that the other had gotten onto THEIR elevator, Kuu and Mariko had engaged in a fight that consisted of both of them craning their heads as far back from each other as possible and windmilling their arms at each other.

Jostling around the small space, one of them-they were unclear who but both blamed the other-hit the big red 'stop' button. And now, here they were, stuck in the elevator together. It refused to move and there was no light except for the small emergency light at the corner of the ceiling.

"What the hell, man." Kuu grumbled, sitting in his corner. "Where the hell is the help when you need them."

"Stop talking!" Mariko hissed, trying to not panick. "You're using up all the air!"

"What?" Kuu raised an eyebrow. Finally, he was aware of Mariko's laboured breathing and the fear laced in her voice. He snickered a bit and stood up. "You're afraid?"

Mariko threw Kuu an angry look that was half-pleading, half-hateful and all fearful. Kuu gave an experimental bounce.

"Don't." Mariko squeaked, feeling the elevator jiggle up and down a bit. When she was young, around five or seven, she had gotten stuck in an elevator. There had been a small earthquake and the electricity had gone out leaving her in the dark, stuck between floors. She had cried for hours until emergency workers had gotten her out and safe into her mom's arms. Mariko still wasn't good with small, tight spaces and if she could, would rather take the stairs than the elevators any day.

"What?" Kuu asked innocently and crouched down a bit, readying himself for a jump. "What's the magic word, MA-RI-KO-SA-MA?"

"I said," Mariko tried her most intense glare. "DON'T."

Kuu shrugged. "Wrong answer." Before Mariko could say another work, Kuu jumped as high as he could and came down with the full force of gravity behind him. The entire elevator jostled and squeaked a LITTLE bit, not really moving that much. But for Mariko, it had felt like a 9.0 on the richter scale and she was screaming deliriously with mindless fear.

"Hey, hey!" Kuu was beside her in a second, a hand on her shoulder, feeling incredibly guilty as Mariko's screams died down to a low sobbing bawl. Head in her hands, Mariko was crying big fat tears and she just KNEW her make-up was ruined.

"I..." Mariko hiccupped. "Told you... to... STOP!"

"I didn't think you were that scared." Kuu muttered, shame-faced. In reply, Mariko looked up at him and started angrily bawling even louder in his face.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Kuu panicked, gathering up Mariko in his arms. She let him, too scared to reject the comfort he offered. Sitting between his legs and surrounded by his arms, Kuu rocked the both of them back and forth slowly, making comforting shushing sounds mixed in with little insults about how ugly Mariko looked with tears and snot on her face.

"Wiping it... all on your... shirt... jackass..." Mariko sobbed as she did just that. Kuu let her with just a little bit of protest, while stroking the back of her head. Her sobs died down to manageable levels as Kuu reassured her, telling her that hotel staff MUST know that the elevator wasn't working and was probably fixing it right now and people MUST be looking for Mariko cuz she was so important. Kuu's smooth voice made Mariko feel just a little better as she buried her head into the crook of his neck. Just enough that she could imagine she was in bed, warm and safe and not stuck in a small dark box suspended god knows how many THOUSANDS of metres-

"Breath." Kuu's voice penetrated her thoughts. "Don't think. Just listen to my voice."

"I-I'm..." Mariko sniffed haughtily. "A-Alright."

"Oh?" Kuu raised an eyebrow then started pushing Mariko away. "I guess you don't need me then-"

Mariko dragged Kuu back into her arms, her breathing coming in laboured wheezes at the slight seperation.

"That's what I thought." Kuu said smugly. He closed his eyes a bit, feeling a little bit light-headed... and a little bit sick. "I hope we get out soon. I think some of the food we ate was bad. I feel a bit odd."

"Huh." Mariko had her face pressed into Kuu's chest. It was surprisingly... solid. "You're probably just... a lightweight. And you ...only had... two of those drinks."

Kuu was confused. "What?"

"You had... two of Yuko's mixed drinks. You know-Alcohol?" Mariko looked up at Kuu. "They were... pretty weak."

"OH. NO." Kuu suddenly realized something as the dinner played back in his mind. Riku with one drink. Two drink. Three drink... FOUR. FIFTH DRINK. Sixth drink, seventh drink, MORE!

"What?"

Kuu tried to get up but Mariko kept her arms around his neck, refusing to let go and emitted a little wail as he struggled to get to the elevator panel again. He had to call for help!

"Riku's not a drinker!" Kuu was panicking slightly.

"So?" Mariko wasn't getting it.

"You don't get it!" Kuu reached into his pocket and took out his cellphone. The little elevator was illuminated by the LCD display and he gnashed his teeth in chagrin as he realized he had no reception! "Riku turns into a completely different person when he's drunk! You don't THINK he's drunk and he doesn't ACT like he's drunk. It's undetectable. But after like, three drinks, he's gone. And you find out the hard way that Riku's reached his limit."

"What's wrong with Riku?" Mariko was curious.

"He..." Kuu shivered. "He's like, king of the perverts when he's drunk. After he's had his fun, he doesn't remember anything the next day."

Kuu remembered when they had gone to Fast Club with Katsuyuki-san. Kai and Kuu had been drunk as skunks and had forced Riku to drink cups of shochu. A few minutes later, a dangerous change had come over the tallest member of Persona. Riku had proceeded to actually EXCEED most of the other men's pervertedness of that night at the club. He was chasing after girls, trying to steal kisses from them, groping their breasts and even TOUCHING THEM IN PLACES THAT THE LIGHT DON'T SHINE! The girls, of course, thought it was great. Usually they had older, less desirable clients. This one was young, charming and SOOOO cute.

Kai and Kuu had to drag Riku away before Riku went too far and got himself a sexual harassment suit. The next day, Riku had completely forgotten about it and Kai and Kuu decided not to mention that night EVER again.

"OH. NO." Kuu remembered something else. Riku had gone off with Yuko!

* * *

"Thanks." Riku slipped into Yuko's room, closing the door behind him and locking it quietly. "I didn't think I'd make it to my room before my bladder exploded on me."

"No problem!" Yuko grinned at the young man. "Washroom's right there."

Riku quickly slipped in while Yuko tossed her bag on the lone couch in the room. She was slightly tipsy from matching Riku drink for drink and was impressed with the young man for keeping up with her. Usually, Yuko could drink guys under the table but Riku had given her a run for her money. He didn't even seem that drunk when he had begged off the last drink! They had gone up the elevator together, snickering quietly to themselves as they left Mariko and Kuu at the table. Then, Riku had insisted on walking Yuko to her door.

"All done." Riku came out, wiping his hands on a hand towel. Yuko quickly ducked into the washroom after Riku, feeling the effects of all that liquid on her bladder too. When she had finished and walked out, she found Riku completely out on her bed with the hand towel he had used before, covering his eyes. Poor boy was probably really drunk.

"Hm." Yuko kicked off her heels, sighing in bliss as she wiggled her toes in the thick carpet. Sauntering forward casually, she hopped onto the bed and slowly straddled Riku's waist, determination in her eyes. She picked up the towel off of Riku's face and tossed it aside, studying the young man's sleeping face. Her hands reached up to his ears and she leaned forward so she was basically laying the length of her body on his, only her elbows on either side of Riku's neck holding her up. Delicately, she traced the shell of his ears, down to the line of his jaw.

"Hmph." Yuko pushed herself up again, her hands running down Riku's body, down his chest, dipping in at his waist and stopping at the hem of his shirt. Slipping her hand underneath, she felt the hem of a tight tanktop and slipped her hands under that too. Slowly, oh so slowly, Yuko spread her fingers against that smooth, hairless skin and moved upwards. She felt her fingers glide over Riku's flat belly and the dip of his belly button, over the bumpy path of his ribcage... then the shirt had passed over Riku's breasts, freeing them, and Yuko had them firmly in her hands, kneading them gently.

"I knew it." Yuko narrowed her eyes at Asahi's sleeping form. Even with the wig, the boy disguise in place, Yuko would recognize her Nyan-nyan ANYWHERE. She had known IMMEDIATELY, as soon as she had laid eyes on Riku, that it was Asahi. There was no doubt whatsoever in her mind but Yuko had wanted to be absolutely sure so she had planned to get Asahi wasted to hell and take her back to Yuko's room to check.

"Well, what have we here?" Asahi voice shook Yuko out of her thoughts. The other woman was awake and eyeing Yuko lazily. Instead of screaming at Yuko though, Asahi seemed amused at their predicament.

"Eh heh." Yuko gave a sheepish laugh, still squeezing . "It's... uh... not what it looks like."

"So you're NOT sexually harassing me?" Asahi tilted her head to the side in amusement. "Taking advantage of me in my drunken state?"

"Taking CARE of you, you mean." Yuko tried to save herself and made to get off of Asahi but the other woman's firm hands on her waist surprised her. And the way that she was pressing Yuko down against her, and the fact that Yuko was in a skirt and the only barrier between them was Yuko's panties and Asahi's pants was making Yuko flush.

Asahi let out a little cute grunt as she ground upwards, trying to get some relief. She left one hand on Yuko's waist while reaching down to take off her shirt and binding tanktop, tossing the articles of clothing in a random direction.

"Nyan-nyan, stop." Yuko tried to push the hands on her waist away, but Asahi just moved her hands to Yuko's thighs, rubbing them with a truly perverted smile on her face.

"So soft, Yukooo," Asahi cooed, hands moving to Yuko's ass and trying to get Yuko to ride her.

"No, Nyan-nyan, you're drunk." Yuko made to get up but Asahi had rolled Yuko over onto her stomach, pinning the smaller girl's hands above her head.

"Now where are YOU going?" Asahi's voice had lowered to a dangerous growl as she leaned forward and sucked gently on the nape of Yuko's neck, humping Yuko from behind. If there was an audience, the whole thing would've been kind of sad-funny.

Yuko let out a blissful groan at Asahi's suckling and like HELL if Asahi grinding against her wasn't getting her DAMN hot. The taller girl let loose one of Yuko's hands and reached under Yuko's body to that spot that Asahi was SURE she knew would make Yuko feel SO good-

With her hand free, Yuko managed to get the leverage that she needed and pushed off, reversing their positions so it was now YUKO on top of ASAHI.

"OW OW OW OW OW!" Asahi whimpered, when Yuko put her in a head lock and twisted one of Asahi's arms behind her back.

"Never knew you were a horny drunk, Nyan-nyan!" Yuko said cheerfully. Getting an upper hand on Oshima Yuko? Papa Oshima didn't raise no fool! Quickly grabbing some sheets, Yuko tied one of Nyan-nyan's hands to the bedpost, flipped Asahi over so she was lying on her back now and tied Asahi's other hand to the bedpost.

"Yuuuukoooo..." Asahi whined, back in the position they had first started in, with Yuko straddling Asahi.

"Nyan-nyan," Yuko leaned forward, lips against Asahi's ears. The taller woman shivered at the delicious feeling of Yuko's lips brushing against her ear. "I'm ALWAYS on top."

Asahi's eyes shone with delight, expecting Yuko to take charge-but was sorely disappointed when Yuko reached back and tied Asahi's feet to the bed posts too so she was spread-eagle. Then Yuko jumped off and turned around to face the bound woman.

"QUEEN OF PAIN!" Yuko roared, raising her arms, flexing her biceps and quoting a famous American pro-wrestler. "Do you smell what Oshima Yuko's cookin'?"

"A huge heap of lame!" Asahi couldn't help but answer.

"Mean!" Yuko smacked one of Asahi's tied foot. Then a devilish smile pulled up one corner of her mouth and even though Asahi was stuck in a pleasant alcohol-induced haze... some warning bells were ringing.

"For THAT comment..." Yuko slowly crawled back up to the bed and straddled Asahi again. The woman tied to a bed let out a pathetic whimper as Yuko gave a sloooow, languid stretch that ground her down onto Asahi in that spot that she wanted. "do you wanna know what I'm going to do to you?"

Asahi nodded eagerly. Yuko smiled again and started to slowly pull up her top, revealing creamy white skin and an expensive black and pink lacey bra. Asahi let out a frustrated groan and pulled at her restraints, to no avail. Then Yuko raised an eyebrow as if to say 'you want to see if my bra matches my panties, don't you?' and let her hand drift slowly to the side so she could sloooowly unzip her skirt.

"Well?" Yuko was just a bit more tipsy than usual as she leaned down again, nuzzling her nose against Asahi's neck. "What do you think?"

"I... want to touch you..." Asahi strained against her restraints again.

"No, no. Bad girl." Yuko chuckled and got up, standing on the bed. Her skirt pooled at her ankles and she stepped out of them delicately.

"Oops." Yuko giggled and jumped off the bed. Drunken Asahi was near frothing at the mouth at the sight of the barely dressed Yuko.

"Do you want this?" Yuko asked, pressing up against the closest wall and letting out a lewd moan.

"Yesss..." Asahi hissed, still pulling at her restraints.

"Well." Yuko pushed off the wall and jumped up on to the bed to peck a kiss on Asahi's nose. "Tell you what. If you can get free, you can join me in the shower. And I'll let you do WHATEVER you want to me."

"That's not fair!" Asahi complained. "You tied me up real tight!"

"So fair!" Yuko threw a sheet over Asahi's bare torso, just in case she was cold, then sauntered off towards the washroom. But not before striking another body builder pose and roaring: "Know your role and shut your mouth! And that's the bottom line, cuz OSHIMA YUKO said so!"

"Aughhhh..." Now Asahi was groaning because it was just... so... bad! Even though she was drunk and horny, Yuko's lines were just KILLING the mood!

However, her mood went up again as Yuko's black and pink lacy bra came sailing across the room and found a spot on Asahi's stomach.

"Goddamnittttt..." Asahi was shaking the whole bed as she pulled against her bindings, again, to no avail. She almost screamed with frustration when the next thing to come sailing across the room, hitting her smack in the face was Yuko's panties.

"DAAAMN ITTTT!" Asahi felt like weeping as the shower turned on and Yuko started singing old Utada Hikaru songs.

* * *

Kuu woke up to the blinding elevator light and an old cleaning man looking down at him and Mariko. They had fallen asleep and looking at his cell it was... around 6am. He really needed to pee.

"What are you two doing here?"

"This girl here," Kuu blamed Mariko immediately, "accidentally pressed the big red stop button. We were stuck here forever! We tried calling for help but there was nobody on the line!" Kuu complained as he tried to get up. Unfortunately, Mariko still had a death-grip on him in her sleep, was refusing to let go.

"Didn't know there was someone here til now." The old man scratched his head. "Usually one of the elevators is turned off to save on energy at night so nobody pays attention to the elevator that's down. You know, we're trying to go green here... and anyways... why didn't you young whippersnappers just pull the red button?"

With the elevator door open, the old man demonstrated. With a push of the red button, the elevator powered down. But pulling the button back up again turned everything back on.

"GODDAMNIT!" Kuu cursed loudly and Mariko jolted awake, grabbing at Kuu fearfully, afraid that they were plunging to their deaths.

"What, what's going on?" Mariko clutched at Kuu, blinking at the bright lights. At the sight of the open elevator door, however, she crawled quickly towards it, pulling Kuu after her until she was outside of the elevator.

"We're out!" Mariko was deliriously happy. "We're okay! We made it!"

"Yeah." Kuu wasn't about to tell Mariko that they could've left at any time. He felt stupid enough as is. Thanking the old man who had let them out, he watched the elevator doors close and glanced at his cell again. "But now it's time to go back in. I have to take a shower. SOMEONE, wiped their make-up and snot all over me last night."

Mariko suddenly remembered and clapped her hands over her face, letting only her eyes show through her fingers.

"My make-up!"

"It's ruined already." Kuu shrugged as he tried to call Riku. No answer. Not good. "And who are you trying to impress? Me? Please. Too late for tha-ow!"

Kuu rubbed his sore arm and scowled at Mariko. "Come on. It's almost time for us to be up and ready. And you said last night that Yuko was on the same floor as you, I wanna make sure she's okay and Riku hasn't done anything."

"Naw." Mariko shook her head. "I'll take the stairs."

"Come on, this is an emergency." Kuu dragged her into another elevator and Mariko immediately grabbed on to him as he pressed the close button. "What's your floor?"

"Fifteen." Her voice was muffled in his shirt and as the elevator started up. Kuu hummed along with the elevator music and in no time at all, they were on her floor. "You really think Riku would...?"

Kuu shuddered, remembering how Riku had been eyeing him in the taxi too and how his hand had 'slipped' almost down Kai's shirt.

"Yes. He's just not himself AT ALL with alcohol."

* * *

Riku had been awakened by the insistant ringing of his cellphone. Rolling over, he came to the edge of the bed and groped for his phone, finally finding it. But by the time he had it in his grasp, whoever had been calling had hung up.

"Ugh." Riku felt sick. He stuffed his cellphone back into his pocket, rolling back to the warmth of the body that had been tucked nicely against him.

"Who was it?" A sleepy voice queried as Riku gathered up the person he had been snuggling with before, back into his arms.

"Hung up." Riku muttered, closing his eyes again and smiled as sweet-smelling hair tickled his face. "Sleep."

"Okay." One arm reached around to draw Riku even closer and the tall member of Person smiled again, but frowned a little when the person he was sleeping with's other hand came up to fondle his bare chest. A half-minute later, Riku had thrown himself away from the person he was sleeping with and rolled off the bed, hitting the floor with a thud.

"What-what-" Riku stood up and gaped at a barely dressed Yuko frowning at him cutely. And he was... he was completely topless! His BOOBS! HE WAS EXPOSED!

"Nyan-nyan, come back to bed."

"What am I doing here?" Riku gaped at Yuko.

"You don't remember?" Yuko pouted up at Riku. "So everything you said last night was a lie? You don't love me? Did you just say you loved me to get me to sleep with you?"

"I-I-I-" Riku stuttered, trying to wrap his head around what she said. They slept to together? They had SEX together?

"And I let you do everything you wanted too!" Yuko was trying her hardest not to laugh as she watched Riku's head explode. "How could you, Nyan-nyan?"

* * *

Mariko and Kuu exited the elevator and Mariko lead the way to Yuko's room. They turned the corner just in time to see Riku rush out of a room in just a tight tank top, t-shirt in hand as he frantically struggled to put it on.

"Where are you going?" Yuko was at the door in only a large men's shirt that came down to her knees.

"Away." Riku said desperately, pulling the shirt over his head. He turned towards the elevator and froze at the sight of Mariko and Kuu staring at him in shock.

"I-I.." Riku hiccupped tearfully. "What did I do?"

Yuko noticed the two at the end of the hallways and gave a cheerful wave. "Ohayo!"

Mariko and Kuu just STARED.

"Don't look at me!" Riku hid his face with his hands. "I'm a horrible person!"

With that, Riku ran away from Mariko and Kuu, opting to use the stairwell to make his escape.

"Riku!" Kuu yelled. But Riku was long gone. "I gotta go after him!"

"Yeah-wait." Mariko grabbed hold of Kuu's arm and yanked him back, almost unbalancing him. "Hey. Um... thanks. For last night. Lets not mention it ever again."

"No problem." Kuu smiled kindly, knowing better than to poke fun at Mariko. The woman had been nearly catatonic with fear last night. Kuu wasn't the type to kick someone while they were down.

"And," Mariko held out a hand. "Truce."

Kuu looked at the hand with doubt, but the sincerity of Mariko's face convinced him. He gave a firm shake to seal their truce and grinned at Mariko. "Truce. I'll see ya. Take care of Yuko, okay? I'll come back later but I gotta get Riku."

Kuu waved a good bye to Yuko-who seemed quite chipper for someone who had been sexually harassed-and ran off to chase down Riku. Mariko walked over to Yuko and grabbed the smaller girl, studying her worriedly.

"You alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Yuko ignored Mariko's worrying. "What happened to you? You look like your face is melting."

"Don't ask." Mariko growled, embarassed but became serious again. "Seriously, are you alright? Did he do anything to you? Do you need me to call someone-"

"Nononono!" Yuko suddenly realized what Mariko was getting at and shook her head frantically. "No, it wasn't like that!" A devious smirk came over the smaller woman's face. "Really, you should be more worried about Riku."

"Yuko." Mariko slapped Yuko's shoulder. "What. The. Hell! I thought you were just into girls and we'd be safe-"

"I'm not gay!' Yuko protested, to no avail as Mariko continued her rant.

"-but here you are with-" Mariko looked up and down the hallway and lowered her voice. "With GUYS in your room! What if someone gets a photo of you two? And the next day you see the headlines: 'WORLD EXCLUSIVE, Oshima Yuko and Riku of Persona! Scadalous photos only here in this crappy ass tabloid magazine'!"

"Big deal." Yuko mumbled sullenly as she realized her friend wasn't going to be happy for her. "Anyways, I already got a photo of me and Riku on my phone. So world exclusive my ass. Been there and done that."

"DELETE IT." Mariko ordered. "Yuko, really! You act like it's not a big deal, but what if a scandal happens and god forbid, Megumi-shachou drops you? Look at Atsuko, she keeps her co-stars at arm's length all the time-"

The sound of a door opening interrupted Mariko's tirade.

Kai appeared in the hallway and turned around so he was facing Atsuko as the actress stood at the doorway with ONLY A BATHROBE ON. Kai was trying to pull the bathrobe closer together, scolding the girl about how he could see EVERYTHING if Atsuko didn't tie the bathrobe tighter.

"If it's you, that's fine." Atsuko giggled at Kai, who frowned disapprovingly at Atsuko but couldn't keep it up for long as his face broke into a smile. "Do you have everything?"

"Cellphone and cardkey." Kai held onto the doorframe as Atsuko tilted his head down gently to fuss with his hair. "It's fine!"

"Honestly..." Atsuko's fingers were now at Kai's OPEN shirt, buttoning it up for him. The SAME SHIRT he had worn the night before! "Your shirt's unbuttoned! What if-"

"It's fine, look." Kai pulled up his shirt to show his chest and grinned. "I have my top on, mother. I won't be cold."

"What would you do without me?" Atsuko had a fond smile on her face, an expression that Mariko and Yuko-whom Atsuko spent most of her waking hours with, had seldom seen.

"What DID I do without you?" Kai beamed at Atsuko, who leaned forward to peck a quick kiss on the blonde's cheek.

"_STOPPPPP!_" Mariko was screaming, but the sound was muffled by Yuko's hand over the tall woman's mouth. The sound, however, was still audible and Kai and Atsuko noticed they had an audience.

"Uh..." Kai had his familiar deer-in-headlights look. "Well... uh..."

"Keeps them at arm's length, huh?" Yuko said wryly as Mariko continued to scream and Yuko kept her hand over the short-haired woman's mouth. "Good job, Atsuko. Good job."

"We were just talking!" Kai tried telling the truth as Yuko raised an eyebrow and even Mariko went silent, giving him a look that said 'do you think we're stupid?'

"Honest!" Kai protested but a hand on his arm silenced him.

"We might as well tell them, Kai." Atsuko said seriously. The next words out of Atsuko's mouth made Kai's jaw drop almost to the floor. "Mariko, Yuko... Kai and I are going out."

* * *

endnote: DUNDUNDUN! How's that for a cliff-dive? :D What is Mayu doing? Did Yuko and Riku actually get down and dirty? Are Mariko and Kuu really at a truce? WHAT is UP with Kai and Atsuko's relationship? Find out next time, same bat time, same bat channel!


	12. Chapter 12

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 12

author's note: The fallout from the night before. And... here you go! :D

* * *

Breakfast had been eaten in seperate groups with Mariko yanking Yuko and Atsuko to a different table than Kuu, Kai and Riku. Right now, Mariko was speaking to her two girls in hushed whispers while the boys were doing the same with each other.

"I'm a rapist." Riku said in a shell-shocked voice, shaking his head. He had been like since they had come down for breakfast. He looked terrible even though he'd had a shower and cleaned up a bit. It didn't help either that Riku had a MASSIVE hangover. "I'm a horrible person and I deserve to go to jail. Why didn't you guys tell me that I have some serious Jekyll and Hyde issues with alcohol? I didn't know I turned into a raging sexual harasser when I was drunk!"

"Well, you didn't remember what had happened at Fast Club," Kuu shrugged while Kai shuddered a bit, a little traumatized from his run-in with pervert-Riku. "So we thought it best to forget about it. We really didn't want to remember it either."

"Hold up, hold up..." Kai was hearing all of this just now as Riku mumbled out what had happened that morning with Kuu piping up once in a while. "Okay. So you THINK you had sex with her? She doesn't seem THAT upset about it." Riku and Kuu shot Kai incredulous looks and he held up his hands to ward them off. "I'm just SAYING she doesn't seem that upset, okay? And really, you couldn't have had sex with her!"

"She knows Asahi." Riku said blandly. "She's the perverted groper from the beach."

"Does she know about me?" Kuu asked worriedly.

"We were busy. So I didn't get the chance to ask. Sorry." Riku said sarcastically. He then continued wailing, burying his face in his hands. "How could I have done that to her? I'm a criminal!"

"Shhh!" Kai shushed the group. "So Yuko was the girl you told me about the day before? Holy crap. What are the chances-"

"Whatever, what's going on with you and Atsuko?" Kuu suddenly demanded. "I was talking to Yuko at the buffet tables and she was saying SHE wasn't the ONLY one getting busy last night. What's this about you and Atsuko going out?"

"We..." Kai was blushing. "We sort of are, I guess."

"WHAT?" Riku and Kuu screamed, then ducked down as tables around them turned to stare at them. Riku held his head in pain, the last outburst doing nothing for his hangover.

"Shhh..." Kai hissed. "It's not what it looks like: Atsuko knows about Nami."

"What the hell, how come there's so many frickin' people that know?" Kuu asked incredulously. "Are we not doing a good enough job of being men amongst men?"

"It's not that." Kai sighed wearily and he gave them the short story of how Atsuko and Nami had met. Tired out from all this talking, Kai took a sip of orange juice and dug into his breakfast hungrily as he continued talking. "We talked all night and I slept over at her place. Mariko and Yuko were out in the hallway and caught me leaving so Acchan-"

"'Acchan'?" Kuu wrinkled his nose up. "You SURE you two aren't dating?"

Kai ignored Kuu and continued talking. "-told them that me and her are secretly dating. They seem to be alright with that and Acchan said we'll talk later about it. She won't tell our secret."

"So you told her about ALL of us?" Riku's head shot up.

Kai shrugged. "I had to. She asked and how was I gonna lie to her about all of us?"

"Okay." Riku sighed, his headache not getting any better. "So Maeda knows about us, Yuko... also knows. But about me and we're unsure if she knows about the two of you. And Shinoda...?"

"Hell to the no." Kuu shook his head when everybody looked at him. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"Riku was saying that when he got out of Yuko's room," Kai ignored Riku's little wail. "You were there with Mariko and both of you were wearing the same clothes from last night."

"We had... issues with each other." Kuu said blandly and his two friends decided to leave it. Nobody wanted to get in on Kuu and Mariko's little war. And it seemed to still be going on as Kuu shot Mariko's table a murderous look. Mariko, unaware of the murderous intent behind the look, gave Kuu a friendly wave.

"So that's it." Mariku ducked back down to give Atsuko a LOOK. "You and Kai hit it off and he just spent the night? No hanky-panky whatsoever and now you're dating?"

"None." Atsuko nodded.

"You're lying." Yuko said accusingly. "You guys TOTALLY did it! You were in a bathrobe and then you were fixing his hair and shirt and kissing him-"

"You should talk," Atsuko scoffed, trying not to blush. It had looked bad. But... doing things like THAT with Nami? That was... she could feel her EARS heat up just thinking about it. It was so... embarassing! They were just friends! "What did you do with Riku, huh?"

"Nothing. At. All." Yuko grinned, eating her omlette. After Yuko showered, she had come out to see Asahi passed out cold. Even some more groping of Asahi's boobs hadn't woken up the young woman. Yuko had then untied Asahi and snuggled up to the other woman and was pleased when Asahi unconsciously wrapped an arm around Yuko and continued sleeping. It was the best sleep Yuko's had in a while, pressed up against the most perfect globes in the world!

"Lies!" Atsuko and Mariko immediately said.

"No, serious." Yuko shrugged. "He's pretty horny when he gets drunk and I was so tempted but I didn't."

"Yuko!" Mariko hit her friend's arm, scandalized and looked around to make sure nobody was nearby.

"What? It's natural." Yuko shrugged and started listing off the different types of drunks. "There's different kinds of drunks: sleeping drunks, angry drunks, crying drunks, crazy drunks, horny drunks... and then there's me. The non-drunk. Riku's a horny drunk. That's just what he is and he can't change that."

"You did NOTHING?" Atsuko shook her head. "I don't believe it."

"Well," Yuko pressed her hands against her cheeks in a bashful gesture, remembering how Riku had been SO forceful. "Riku was SUCH a MAN."

"So HE did something." Mariko turned to glare at Riku who noticed the tall woman was giving her the evil eye. Riku sunk lower in his chair. "That ANIMAL."

"Well, it wasn't all him... I wasn't that innocent either." Yuko said shyly. Mariko just shook her head. If she didn't know Yuko, she would've fallen for the shy act. But Yuko was anything but shy.

Atsuko was confused. "So did you or didn't you...?"

"Nothing really." Yuko gave a loud laugh and put her hands on her waist. "Oshima Yuko, QUEEN OF PAIN was VICTORIOUS-"

"Shut up." Mariko reached out and pinched Yuko's nose. "Shut. Up."

"Booooo." Yuko pouted. Nobody appreciated pro-wrestling!

"So what you're saying is that it was ALL you and nothing happened. Poor Riku." Mariko sighed. Yuko was too much of an idiot. And Atsuko... Mariko was just going to assume, for her own sanity, that Atsuko and Kai didn't do anything. This was like a HUGE scandal waiting to happen. "Okay. Girls, just promise me: no more sleepovers."

"No more sleepovers." Atsuko and Yuko could both agree to that. Neither of them wanted to jeopordize their careers or hurt each other with bad publicity.

"If you're dating Kai," Mariko winced at the bright look on Atsuko's face at the mention of Kai's name. She glowed. Oh my god. They DID do it! "Please PLEASE be really really careful. People talk."

"Of course." Atsuko said graciously. She let out a sigh of relief, afraid that Mariko would try to make it hard for her to hang out with her friend. Nami made her happy whenever she was around. She was funny, brash, surprisingly thoughtful, caring and understanding. It wasn't that she didn't like Mariko and Yuko, but Nami had liked Atsuko for who she was from the first time they met. Nami hadn't asked if she was an idol, didn't care that she was a celebrity, didn't like her just because they worked together... Nami had told her she had liked Atsuko immediately that first day because she was plain old Maeda Atsuko. And Atsuko had felt the same way about Kawachi Nami. Their chemistry had been instant and Nami had endeared herself to Atsuko.

They had woken up together, slowly, the room lit up with a muted glow from the sun outside. Nami still had her wig off and Atsuko had provided the other woman with a t-shirt and shorts to sleep in so Nami didn't have to sleep in the binding tanktop she wore for her Kai disguise. Atsuko had woken up first, her eyes slowly opening and treated to the sight of the most ADORABLE sleeper in the world. Nami had her mouth open and was drooling a bit, sleeping soundlessly. Nami also had her hand loosely wrapped around one of Atsuko's and, as if sensing that Atsuko was awake, slowly woke up too. She had been disoriented for a while, but then snuggled in under Atsuko's chin, mumbling "Acchan, five more minutes..."

"You." Mariko glared at Yuko who was craning her head back, trying to catch Riku's eye. "STOP THAT. You have to stop whatever you're doing with Riku. Now that I know you're not the victim and HE probably is, I think you should clear things up with him."

"But making him squirm is so much fun!" Yuko pouted some more. "And how come Atsuko doesn't have to stop but I do?"

"Atsuko is dating Kai." Mariko lowered her voice to a barely audible hiss. It was actually quite scary as she leaned forward, her eyes opened wide and crazy-like. "YOU are just PLAYING around. Riku is probably scarred for life and I don't want to have to deal with this, you're usually the mature one, what the HELL, Yuko!"

"Okay, okay!" Yuko held up her hands in a placating gesture, grinning nervously. Mariko could get so scary when she's angry. "I'll do what I can."

Mariko sighed and sat back. "Good. I don't want to stress out over this any more. Kuu and I've finally called a truce and we're going to do our job and NOT have any scandals."

The two groups had woken up earlier than most people, but now the hotel's other guests were waking up and slowly trickling down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. One, Watanabe Mayu, decked in a green hoodie today had just arrived at the cafeteria and was on her phone talking in a hushed tone. Kai paused in her discussion with her bandmates and waved the girl over. Mayu wandered to their table, giving Kai a quick nod of acknowledgement, while still on her phone.

"-at the Marriott. Yes. Yes, I understand..." Persona could hear bits and pieces of Mayu's conversation. The young girl was using a super polite tone of voice with the speaker on the other end. "Yes. I'll keep an eye out. I understand. Please take care. No. Of course. Of course... I'll try my best. Good bye."

"Hard at work already, huh?" Kai smiled up wearily at Mayu.

The girl gave Kai a tight smile and sat down. "Just taking care of some business. What's good?"

Kai nodded towards the buffet spread. "Everything. Knock yourself out, we'll save you a spot here."

When Mayu had left, Kuu leaned in, tone accusing. "Why are you so nice to her? Does SHE know too?"

Kai shrugged. "She doesn't know. And she's a good girl, that's why I'm nice to her."

"Careful," Kuu teased. "Your 'Acchan' might get jealous."

Kai glared at Kuu but they were all too tired to argue with the gusto they usually showed. Riku in particular, was looking a bit green around the gills and was keeping as quiet as possible. Persona looked like they had gone through the wringer and when Saeko and Marilyn arrived for breakfast, Saeko had immediately seen that something was wrong.

"You three." She came over to the table, glaring at them with a fake smile on her face. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." They all lied. Saeko narrowed her eyes at them. They were lying. And Riku seemed like he was hungover.

"Oh?" Saeko snapped her fingers. Marilyn was by her side with a plate of greasy food. Putting it in front of Riku, Saeko leaned down next to his ear. "Eat it. If everything's alright, then you can choke this down, right?"

"Hurk." Riku placed a hand over his mouth. Kai and Kuu were looking at him pleadingly, hoping he could eat the food and put them in the clear.

"I'm sorry guys." Riku blurted out and rushed out of the cafeteria, desperate to get to a washroom before he horked all over the floor and made an ass of himself. Kai and Kuu were left with Saeko and Marilyn and were now hugging each other in fear.

"The both of you weren't in your hotel rooms last night." Marilyn growled. "Don't even try to lie. I checked. Now tell me: Where were you two?"

"Out partying!" Kai blurted out, lying. But it was a good enough lie and believable enough that Saeko seemed to accept it without questioning them. If Saeko knew the truth of where HE was, he would DIE.

"After I had told you three not to." Saeko's hand twitched as if she was hoping she had her whip in hand. "There will be DIRE consequences to your actions."

"It was my idea!" Kai and Kuu both blurted out, wanting to take the blame. Saeko was slightly touched by their devotion to each other. But not touched enough to NOT punish them.

"You three..." Saeko's voice changed to a sickly sweet tone. "Are going to see what happens when we get back home."

Kai and Kuu wailed a little bit as Saeko sauntered away with Marilyn quickly following her shachou but not before shooting the boys a disappointed, pitying look. Mayu was back at the table by the time Persona's manager had left and gave the pale-faced boys a strange look.

"You guys look like you've seen a ghost." Mayu sat down and threw back her hood, eating her food with a delicate grace. Kai untangled himself from Kuu and gave Mayu a sad excuse for a smile.

"Mayu, when we die, will you come to our funeral?" asked Kai.

"I always liked lillies." Kuu murmured.

"Hey guys," Mariko's arrival shook them out of their mood. Kai and Mayu quickly said hi while Kuu just GLARED. Mariko gave Kuu a slightly confused smile which Kuu turned up his nose to and ignored.

"Oooo...kay..." Mariko blinked. Weren't they on a truce?

"Kai," Kuu sniffed haughtily. "Would you please tell that WOMAN that she's not welcome at this table?"

Kai looked between Mariko and Kuu then picked up his tray, grabbing Mayu's too. "Come on Mayu, lets go sit with Acchan and Yuko."

"Traitor!" Kuu called after the two retreating figures.

"Okay, what's wrong now?" Mariko sighed, crossing her arms. "I thought we had a truce."

"We DID." Kuu crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at the tall EVIL woman. "Think hard. Think about what would happen as soon as I walked through the door of my hotel room. THINK HARD."

Mariko frowned. Kuu's hotel room? What... oh. OH! Mariko remembered paying off a cleaning lady for access to Kuu's room. The tall model had rigged it COMPLETELY. As soon as Kuu walked in, a bunch of water balloons should've hit Kuu from above. She had traded in the little complimentary mint toothpaste for a gag one that tasted like ass, or so she had been told. The toilet had been saran-wrapped and the shower had been rigged to shoot blood-coloured water after the first few minutes of running the tap. Mariko had put fake plastic cochroaches underneath Kuu's sheets and fake dog poo all over his room. She had also made sure that the TV was set on the loudest possible setting and had bought scat porn for the room so if Kuu turned on the TV, he would be treated to the most disgusting images in the world.

"I hate you." Kuu announced when he saw that Mariko had just remembered.

"I'm so sorry!" Mariko apologized, horrified. She had completely forgotten! "I did everything before our truce! I'm so sooo sorry!"

"I had to rinse my mouth out like fifty times and I think I can still taste that disgusting toothpaste right now." Kuu said angrily. "And the blood from the shower? I freaked out and slipped and hit my shin on the bathtub! It hurt! How did you even get everything ready, how did you even find the time?"

While Kuu was listing out all the bad things that had happened to him, Kai had sat down carefully beside Yuko since Mayu had immediately taken the spot beside Atsuko.

"Hey." Yuko grinned at Kai, standing up. "You can take my seat, I'm done anyways."

Kai looked at Atsuko, then over at Mayu who was eating her food quietly. "Uh, no thanks. I'm fine here."

"Oh... OH!" Yuko finally remembered that not EVERYBODY was in on Kai and Atsuko's secret! "Riiiight! I gotcha!"

"Just go." Atsuko said with a strained smile. Honestly, Yuko was so going to accidentally blurt out the secret about her and Kai's 'relationship'. Yuko winked at them and went off to dump her tray. She took a quick glance around after putting her tray away... Atsuko was distracted by Kai and Mariko was talking to Kuu. They weren't paying attention to Yuko.

'They DID say that I should clear it up with Riku.' Yuko skipped away, remembering that she had seen her Nyan-nyan run into the men's washroom. She poked her head in and ducked low to look under the stalls. Seemed like there was only one occupied, most probably by Riku from the sound of it. Grabbing the cleaning sign leaning beside the door, Yuko put it out to block anyone from coming in. Just to be sure, she locked the washroom doors too. The hotel public washrooms were really nice with lots of amenities, including little plastic cups for water. Yuko grabbed one, filled it with water and went to knock on Riku's door.

"Blurgh..." Riku replied. Yuko pushed the door open since it was unlocked to find the young man kneeling at the porcelain bowl, dry-heaving.

"Here." Yuko handed Riku the cup of water, which the young man took and rinsed his mouth with. "Better?"

"Much." Riku looked up at Yuko and blushed. Did they...? "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Yuko squatted down and brushed aside Riku's bangs. "Just drink more water, Nyan-nyan."

"So you know." Riku groaned. "So we DID do it."

"You were soooo forceful." Yuko couldn't help teasing Riku a bit more. Her Nyan-nyan was just sooooo cute! Even dressed like a boy, Yuko couldn't help the warm and fuzzy feelings from bubbling up inside of her.

"I was?" Riku was horrified.

"When you held me down," Yuko shivered delightfully, remembering how Asahi had pressed against her from behind, those gorgeous breasts of hers pressing into her back. Yuko couldn't help it. She LOVED boobies! "I didn't think you had it in you, Nyan-nyan."

"So..." Riku felt so awkward. He had thought that maybe Nami would have stuff like this happen to her, but never thought that she would enter the world of 'L' like this! "Are we like... lesbians?"

"Nope." Yuko said cheerfully. "It's skinship! Skin-ship. But you went a bit further then I thought you would, Nyan-nyan. You're so bad!"

"I'll take responsibility." Riku said seriously. He stood up, looking pale but still so pretty. "It was my fault and I'm so sorry-"

"You don't have to do that-"

"No!" Riku grabbed Yuko's hands in his own, sincerity in his eyes. "I've got to make it right!"

"Hm." Yuko realized that Riku had probably watched too many dramas about baby's mamas and single mothers and hard times. It touched her that Riku was the type of person to not immediately reject the idea but instead, would own up to wrong doing. Even if he didn't do anything.

'Might as well play along,' The mischievous young woman thought. "Well... I guess since I'm damaged goods, you SHOULD take responsibility."

Riku nodded fervently, determined to be take responsibility. "I'll be the best boyfriend EVER!"

* * *

With breakfast finished, the two groups were told that there would be a meeting regarding the script, characters and filming. They had to pass through the lobby of the hotel to go back upstairs to one of the conference rooms in the hotel and it was there that Kai was hit with a case of the willies.

"Woah," Kai shivered and he paused, frowning. What the hell was that?

"What's wrong?" Atsuko asked politely but kept her tone distant. Since breakfast, Mayu had been sticking close to Kai and Atsuko was a little bit more wary about acting so friendly with Nami when she was in her Kai persona.

"I... don't know." Kai blinked, looking around. Something made him look towards the main entrance of the hotel, not knowing why... when the automatic doors opened soundlessly and a tall, beautiful woman strode in, a pair of big sunglasses obscuring her features. But Kai knew who it was immediately.

"Ray?" Kai gaped at the tall songstress. Ray had her sunglasses off in a moment and ran at Kai.

"Kai!" The tall Diva flung her arms around Kai's neck, squealing happily. "Kai, I missed you!"

"What are you doing here?" Kai slipped out from Ray's grasp, nervously keeping his distance.

"I missed you." Ray pouted. "I took some vacation time to come see you. Aren't you happy? I just got in this morning!"

"Yeah, haha," Kai's voice was sarcastic. "I'm soooo happy. Wait." Kai blinked. "You just flew in? THAT'S why I didn't get a morning message!"

"Were you worried?" Ray asked devilishly. She was stuck to Kai again, holding onto his arm and grinning at him like a little kid. All the while, Atsuko was glowering at the two. Kai was HER pretend boyfriend! Mariko and Yuko were also glaring at Kai, not liking the scene in front of them AT ALL.

"Yeah, right. Worried. Well, I gotta get to work." The blonde had been just a TAD worried. Kai tried to pull away from Ray but the charismatic Diva had a death's grip on his arm! "So I guess I'll see you later."

"But what'll I do without you?" Ray pouted. "I came to have fun with YOU!"

"I have work." Kai tried again, frowning.

"But I won't have fun without you." Ray said again, looking like she was close to tears. Nervously, Kai's eyes darted to look at Riku and Kuu who were grinning at him like idiots, then back to the songstress who looked like she was about to cry. Dragging Ray away from the group to a secluded corner Kai let out a weary sigh.

"Okay I really have work, okay?" Kai didn't like sad face Ray was using full-power on him. "I really, REALLY have to work, Ray. Pleeeease, let me go."

"Why don't you go, then? You don't need my permission. You don't seem to want me here either." Ray crossed her arms and turned away, seriously hurt. She had flown all the way to Okinawa to see him! Didn't he know that Ray didn't fly anywhere for ANYONE? But she had taken hard-earned time off to come see Kai. She wanted him to care. She really did. And it hurt that it seemed that he didn't.

"I'm not going because I know you came all the way to see me! I appreciate what you did for me!" Kai seemed to read her mind and Ray turned to look at the angry blonde, his semi-long hair framing his face. Kai was just so pretty! Like a girl!

"Concentrate." Kai had seen Ray's eyes glaze over and sighed, knowing Ray had gone off to La-La Land where Kai was probably king.

Ray nodded, trying her best to focus. "I'm concentrating."

"Okay." Kai grimaced as she took his hands shyly and he let her do so. Hand-holding he could deal with for a little bit and it seemed to calm Ray down a bit. "I just have to go to this meeting. It's work and I can't miss it."

"Play hooky with me." Ray flashed Kai a mischievous smile. "Come on. I'll cover for you! It'll be a special 'Ray assignment'! You can take me around and we can go eat watermelon and play in the sun."

Kai couldn't help smirking a bit at the look on Ray's face as she painted him a beautiful picture with her words but he shook that off and put on his serious face. "No, Ray, I really have to work. Why don't you go relax a bit and I'll see you after? You just got in, right?"

"Yeah, but-"

"I have to do this no matter what." Kai cut her off, decided to take charge. "You have two options: You let me go now and I finish quickly. Or you hold me up some more and I take more time explaining to people why I was late and apologizing."

Ray pouted. She knew she wasn't going to win this one. Kai could see that Ray had accepted the fact that she needed to go and stood there, just studying the songstress for a bit. He was quite touched actually, that she had come all the way here to stalk him. Touched but flabbergasted. Why the hell did this woman like him? She was obviously crazy!

It took a while longer for Kai to escape the Diva, having to promise Ray that he would hang out with her after the meeting and when Ray finally loosened her grip, Kai dashed away with a quick good-bye, followed by everyone else.

"What the hell was that?" Yuko was not happy as she caught up to Kai at the elevators, who was stabbing at the up button in a panicked way. Mariko was right behind Yuko, tugging a sullen Atsuko along. Both Mariko and Yuko were NOT happy with Kai and how Ray was all over him. Was Atsuko's boyfriend two-timing her?

"That was Ray." Kai shuddered upon saying the songstress' name. "We gotta go before she changes her mind and drags me away to have 'fun' with her!"

"She's sorta obsessed with Kai." Kuu explained as the elevator arrived. Kai rushed into the elevator and motioned for everyone to hurry up. The three young women and the boys of Persona entered the elevator. It was only when the door closed that Kai looked around and realized that someone was missing.

"Where's Mayu?"

Mayu, meanwhile, was still in the lobby giving a low, super-polite bow to Ray.

"Welcome to Okinawa, boss." Mayu straightened up and smiled up at the Diva. "I hope you had a good flight."

"It was alright." Ray sighed, donning her sunglasses again. Her Kai had work. Boo. "So? What do you have to report, little mouse?"

"I've been watching Kai-san, like you said." Mayu reported. "And keeping close to him since the very beginning. You didn't have to fly all the way here, boss."

"I don't trust his three co-stars." Ray smiled thinly, her eyes hard. "You said they were all getting along, hm?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Do you have pictures? I want to see what my Kai's been doing and how close he's gotten to his co-stars." Ray knew she was being crazy. But she couldn't help it, Kai was just... Kai. She didn't want to lose him and this whole crazy stalker-scheme had all started when Ray had recently overheard some young starlets talking about their boyfriends. One was crying about how her boyfriend, who was also an idol, was cheating on her with one of his co-stars. That had worried Ray a lot. And the Diva had remembered that one time she had gone over to Kai's place and a girl had opened the door when she had rung the bell... So she had hired Mayu to look out for Kai. But last night she had been so worried that someone might snatch Kai up and she had missed Kai SOOOO much... Ray had bought a ticket, told Sarukawa-shachou she was taking a week off, and flown to Okinawa.

"I do." Mayu nodded. "Should we get you settled first?"

"Yes." Ray's luggage was being carted in by a bellboy. She had brought a lot of clothes! Kai would only see her in her best! "Lead the way."

"Of course." Mayu nodded. "This way-"

"YO!" A voice boomed across the lobby. Tomochin was walking towards them, grinning. "Ray-bee!"

"Don't call me that." Ray looked at the make-up and hair artist in annoyance as the glamorous Tomochin trotted over happily. Tomochin had made that name for her, a combination of Ray and baby. But to Ray, it sounded like she was some kind of viral disease. Which Tomochin had argued, she was. You couldn't go anywhere in Japan without seeing Ray's face or hearing her songs somewhere.

"Is that any way to greet a friend?" Tomochin pressed both hands over her heart. "After helping you with your little scheme?"

"Shhhh!" Ray pressed her hand over Tomochin's mouth, looking around nervously. Ray had called the make-up and hair artist for a favour. Tomochin had been amused that the usually cool and aloof Diva was in love and had agreed to take on Mayu as her faux-assistant, giving the spy a good front.

"Whatever, stalker!" Tomochin laughed, brushing Ray's hand aside. "I can't believe you like that shrimp!"

"He's not that short!" Ray said hotly, ready to defend her love. "And he's perfect the way he is!"

"Yeah, yeah. Oh, did he like the cake you made him last time?" Tomochin grabbed her friend's hands, swinging them this way and that. Tomochin had been in town that time Ray had taken it upon herself to make a cake to take over to see Kai. Itano Tomomi had helped out and even tried a little bit of the cake. It had been delicious! "I'm late for my meeting but I just HAD to see you. Lets hang out later, okay, Ray-bee?"

"Maybe." Ray said dismissively, but a small smile was tugging at the corner of her lips. Tomochin was probably Ray's only friend and though Ray would never admit it, she did treasure Tomochin's friendship. After Tomochin had left and Ray had put away her luggage, the little unassuming spy and the Diva had gone to the hotel cafe to look over the pictures Mayu had managed to take.

"If you could give me a moment, let me get rid of some test shots." Mayu went through her pictures quickly. She stopped at the one with Atsuko pulling Kai into her hotel room that Mayu had taken yesterday night. Without hesitation, Mayu deleted it quickly. "Here you go, boss."

While the songstress looked through the photos, Mayu sipped her iced tea quietly. Mayu was not ungrateful. Kai had been nice to her all this time... the young girl just wanted to give the tiny blonde a break. Anyways, the other pictures would be enough for her boss to know what was going on...

"Maeda Atsuko." Ray narrowed her eyes at the idol in the picture. Of course Ray would know her, who didn't right now? Maeda was one of the most popular young actresses out there now since Three Sisters was such a hot drama. Ray continued looking through the pictures, coming across one of Atsuko sitting at a table, stealthily pushing a few strawberries on to Kai's plate. Then a picture of Kai, gazing at Atsuko with a very tender expression from across the room. There were a lot of pictures with the two together.

Ray felt mad with jealousy.

"They're very friendly with each other." Mayu said calmly. "They're very at ease in each other's presence. Maeda-san's usually an ice-queen with guest stars and co-workers, but she's surprisingly taken with Kai-san."

"I want you around them at all times." Ray said, her voice tight with emotions. The way Kai looked at Atsuko made her so envious of the young actress. "Don't let Kai and Maeda have a moment alone. Do your best to keep them apart."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Make sure that Maeda knows that Kai is mine." Ray refused to share Kai with anyone.

"A scandal might split them apart." Mayu smiled, her smile not at all reassuring or that nice. "If some of these photos of Kai-san and Maeda-san somehow got leaked to the tabloids-"

"No." Ray's answer was immediate. "It's easy... but it might hurt Kai."

"Of course." Mayu nodded. The spy watched Ray attentively as the top-selling artist went through the pictures on Mayu's camera. Her face softened up while she looked at all the pictures that Mayu had managed to take of Kai secretly. She even smiled a bit when she saw the most recent photo Mayu had taken just a few minutes ago of Kai smirking at Ray as she suggested that they play hooky together... and even though those sunglasses hid most of her face, Ray was gorgeous with that sweet smile gracing her lips.

"Boss, I'll have to ask to be excused." After a few minutes of silence, Mayu finally politely interrupted Ray's study of Mayu's pictures. "I have to keep up appearances and get to work."

"Go." Ray sighed and handed the camera back to the small girl. She was glad she had come to Okinawa, knowing now that there was a rival here for Kai's affections. But she also wished she hadn't come. She felt.. awkward. Everything felt strange and new when it came to Kai and everything was so HARD. She felt like she didn't know how to act anymore. And it hurt sometimes, when she thought of Kai. It was all strange and exhilerating to Ray, how at one moment she felt like a princess and as high as a kite. Like when Kai held her hand or smiled at her. But the next moment she was unsure and scared, ugly and unwanted when Kai would pull away from her.

Kai made her feel something she hadn't felt in a long time because she had pushed that feeling away, knowing that sacrifice was necessary to be at the top. But now with Kai in her life, this bright shining star twinkling in the distance, Ray couldn't ignore that feeling anymore.

Ray was lonely.

The Diva called for a milk tea and took out sheets of music from a large bag she was carrying around. It was time to work. She would wait here for Kai.

* * *

endnote: Ray in town! And next time... if you're in Okinawa, well... what's Okinawa without their beaches?


	13. Chapter 13

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 13

author's note: For those that will be confused...

Here's a little cheat sheet for the Three Sisters' drama:

Riku - Ruki

Kuu - Yuu

Kai - Kenji

Maeda Atsuko - Eri

Shinoda Mariko - Fumiko

Yuko - Aki

* * *

"Here," Riku was tripping over himself to do every little thing he could for Yuko. The perverted actress had dropped an eraser and Riku had rushed to get it for her.

"Thank you." Yuko beamed at the attentive young man while Mariko watched Yuko suspiciously. Riku had been sticking by Yuko and being unnecessarily sweet. Yuko MUST have done something. Kai, meanwhile, was acting as he normally would; going through his script, keeping on track, joking around... completely missing the fact that Atsuko was less than happy with him. Observing all of this, Mariko sat back, twirling her pen.

"Ah!" Mariko's pen went flying, landing next to Kuu's foot. Trying to catch Kuu's attention discreetly didn't work, Kuu was ignoring Mariko. When Mariko tried again, Kuu kicked the pen away into a corner of the room and continued ignoring Mariko.

"Here." Kai leaned over and gave Mariko another pen and lightly kicked Kuu's foot. Kuu looked up and smiled at Kai, but continued ignoring Mariko.

"Okay..." Kasai Tomomi smiled at everyone. "So thank you everyone for coming in, I was very happy with the input on your characters and their relationships with each other. Thank you for all your hard work!"

"No, thank you, Kasai-san." Riku said respectfully. He really liked the character he was going to play! Riku would be playing Nishida Ruki who becomes the love interest of Yuko's character. It was actually quite funny... Tomomi had made it so some of their characters reflected the relationships Persona had with the girls in real life.

Kuu would play a young rich businessman named Misuze Yuu who's primary role it seems, was to get on Mariko's character's nerves. They would be antagonizing each other most of the time and the delighted gleam in Kuu's eyes at that revelation spoke ill for Mariko, who seemed relunctant to get into it with Kuu again.

Kai was enthusiastic about his character, a playboy-type young man named Uda Kenji, on vacation in Okinawa with his friends. His role would actually be quite important as he represented a pivotal change for Atsuko's character. Eri, the second sister, would fall head over heels in love with this Uda Kenji. This would be a first for Atsuko's character in the drama.

"You'll do fine." Kai had noticed that Atsuko seemed unsure about this development for her character. Everybody was getting up and packing up, most of them done work for the day and were free to do whatever they want.

"Mm-hmm." Atsuko made a noise that was neither agreeing with Kai nor disagreeing. It was easy to play disinterested and disconnected since she felt that way about most of her co-stars. Mariko and Yuko were basically the only ones she had a rapport with. Would she be able to draw out the emotions necessary for her scenes with Kai?

"You'll do FINE." Kai said again, sensing Atsuko's doubt. He gave her a crooked smile. "We can go practice together, okay? You'll have to run me through the hoops, I've never done this before!"

Atsuko nodded gratefully at Kai's words, knowing it was his way of trying to make her feel better. But Atsuko knew she wasn't the best actress in the world and had to work hard to get her character right. Some times, Atsuko knew the director got frustrated with her and even Tomomi some times would watch her acting and have a look of... disappointment on her face. Atsuko imagined that it was probably because the way she was acting out Eri wasn't what Tomomi had in mind for the character.

"Kai's really kind, isn't he?" Ohori Megumi smiled at the young man and patted Atsuko's behind. "You're really lucky!"

"Stop that." Atsuko brushed away Megumi's hand.

"Caught you off guard, didn't I?" Megumi murmured. "What's wrong with our princess? You seem... bummed."

"Nothing." Atsuko stuffed her script into her tote bag. She'd look through it later. Right now she just wanted to get away for a bit... she felt closed in. Atsuko wanted to be alone with Nami right now, she wanted to relax.

"So, seeing Ray later?" Mayu was beside Kai, smiling at the small man. The shortest member of Persona rolled his eyes and was about to reply when Kuu suddenly had an arm around both their shoulders.

"Lets go surfing!" Kuu announced enthusiastically. "Just a few hours, cuz we gotta work after!"

"Did Saeko okay it?" Kai asked doubtfully. He didn't want to piss off their manager again.

"She not only okay'd it, she insisted!" Kuu cheered. Riku and Kai exchanged scared looks. Saeko NEVER had fun things planned for them!

"It's a casual photoshoot." Saeko was beside them in an instant. "The press got wind of us being here and are staking out the place. We're going to give them a little bit of eyecandy."

"On the beach?" Kai leaned forward to whisper. "In the water?"

"In wetsuits." Marilyn said cheerfully. "You're going surfing, remember?"

Kai and Riku sighed. There was no way they could go topless!

"I wanna go too!" Yuko had been eavesdropping and now hooked her arms in the crook of Kuu and Riku's arms. "I wanna go!"

"And you shall!" Megumi announced. Everybody had to go for this planned photo event so the press would back off a bit.

"Banzai!" Yuko and Kuu cheered while Riku winced at the loud noises. He was a lot better than how he was this morning but loud noises still hurt his head. Yuko had been supplying him with liquids and juice and had been tutting over him like a mother hen. It was sweet, really.

'I have such a nice girlfriend.' Riku thought in satisfaction then frowned when he thought of some of her other 'cures' for his hangover. 'Except when she suggests we do it like rabbits to get rid of my hangover. Then she's just an asshole.'

"Coming?" Kai's question caught Mayu off-guard. She shook her head demurely.

"I don't swim."

"We can teach you!"

"I can swim." Mayu clarified. "I just... don't."

"Whatever!" Tomochin grabbed Mayu from behind, grinning at Ray's little spy. Mayu, who had gotten to know Tomochin quite well during this job, felt comfortable enough to shoot the pretty woman a withering look which Tomochin ignored. "If Tomomi the shut-in is taking some time to go to the beach, you can too!"

"Hey," Tomomi overheard Tomochin. "I'm not a shut-in!"

"But-"

"No buts!" Kuu started chanting, joined in by Yuko enthusiastically. "No buts!"

"Lets go get our bikinis!" Mariko cheered.

"Ew." Kuu sneered at Mariko. "You're not allowed to come."

"I *said* I was sorry." Mariko was at the end of her patience. "What else do you want?"

"My bruises to go away." Kuu kept up the sneering. "You're EVIL!"

"Stop calling me evil!"

Their managers started herding them out of the room, Atsuko dragging her feet behind the group. Yuko caught sight of this and slowed down to walk beside the morose-looking woman.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I don't want to go." Atsuko shouldered her bag. "I want to work."

"You worried?" Yuko asked. She had seen the way Atsuko had looked when Tomomi had been enthusiastically talking about how a whole new depth was going to be added to Atsuko's character. Yuko had worked with the quiet woman long enough to know she wasn't very confident about her acting skills.

"A little."

"You need to relax a bit." Yuko said soothingly. "After this, we can get everybody together and go through the parts you think are hardest for you. I'll run you through it if you want."

"Kai wants to practice too." Atsuko blushed as Yuko gave her a sly look.

"You guys are spending a lot of time together, aren't you?" Yuko bumped Atsuko's shoulder slyly. "Ah, to be young and in love."

"Shut up." Atsuko blushed. They reached the elevator and went up to their floors. Kai, Riku and Kuu went with Saeko and Marilyn to their room to change into their special wetsuits and for Marilyn to give them specially-made wigs for water and help them pin and glue it on.

"This glue will keep your wig attached to your head even if someone was swinging you around by your hair." Saeko informed. "We'll give you special shampoo to wash it out afterwards to remove the wig."

"Okay!" The three saluted. In shorty wetsuits and split-toe low-top wetsuit boots, they looked a bit more built than they really were.

"Padding and binding." Marilyn had smiled serenely. "Without it, Persona wouldn't be possible."

They made their way to the elevator, having agreed to wait for the girls in the lobby. On the way there, however, they had to pass by the hotel cafe and Kai got a sudden chill again. Pausing, he ducked behind a pillar and looked into the cafe cautiously. His intuition had been right! Ray sat near a window, going through some papers. Time and time again, she would look at the clock on the wall, then back down at her papers. She was waiting for him.

"She's been waiting since this morning." Mayu was suddenly beside Kai, looking at Ray too. The little mouse had changed into a pink bikini but was wearing her green hoodie and a wrap-around skirt to cover it while still in the hotel. Kai and Mayu both watched Ray look up at the clock again. It was a little bit sad. Mayu could tell, well ANYBODY could tell that Kai was just not that into Ray.

"Huh." Kai fidgetted nervously, his eyes still locked on Ray in the cafe, battling with his conscience and his need to keep as far away from Ray's grasping hands as possible.

"What are you doing?" Riku asked curiously, having noticed that Kai had stopped a ways back and come back to collect the blonde.

"Nothing." Kai sighed. "Go on without me first, I'll catch up. There's something I have to do."

Riku shrugged and went back to the lobby with Mayu. Mayu looked back while she was walking away though and smiled when she saw Kai walking into the cafe towards Ray. Mayu watched until Ray caught sight of Kai, saw her call him happily and saw a brilliant smile blossom on the songstress' lips. Then the girl in the green hoodie turned back around towards the group waiting in the lobby, her steps a little bit lighter.

"Hey." Kai smiled at Ray as she sat up attentively. With her music spread out on the table, sunglasses perched on her head and sunlight streaming through the windows... she looked as beautiful as ever.

"Are you done?" Ray asked eagerly.

"I am, but we sorta got some photo thing to do that we're pretending isn't a photo thing. We're going to the beach."

"Ah." Ray understood. She WAS in the industry.

"I gotta go do this, then I'll come back? We can do dinner?" Ray HAD waited for him all this time. He could at least have dinner with her. Ray reached out and grabbed Kai's hand, feeling shy and nervous as she asked the next question.

"Can... can I come too?"

Kai blinked, not expecting the request. "Well... there's gonna be photographers everywhere. You SURE you want to?"

"Well, I don't care if people see that I'm here with you." Ray smiled up at Kai. "I belong to Kai, right?"

"Wrong." Kai pulled away and started collecting all of Ray's music. "No romance scandals for Ray."

"That's no fun." Ray continued smiling as she tucked her music into her bag. Meanwhile, at the entrance to the cafe, Atsuko stood there watching.

"Hey," Ray motioned Kai to come closer and he did so cautiously. She brought a hand up to cup his ear and whispered quickly, "I think you look really sexy in your wetsuit."

"Stupid!" Kai drew back but Ray could see that the blonde was blushing all the way to the tips of his ears. If she could get him to blush like that every time she complimented him, Ray would do it all the time!

"What is he doing?" Mariko was also watching and again, was less than pleased with Kai. The blonde was a playboy! And she could tell that their princess wasn't happy AT ALL with Kai paying so much attention to the number one selling artist of the moment.

"Well. I don't know what he's doing." Atsuko's voice was tight with anger that she didn't know she was feeling. She was... jealous. But she didn't want to acknowledge that feeling. Nami-Kai could talk to whoever he wanted to, right? They weren't really dating. Atsuko had just said that to make sure Mariko and Yuko didn't ask too many questions. Atsuko quickly left before Kai or Ray could see her, going back to everybody waiting in the lobby. Mariko watched Atsuko worriedly. She had never seen Atsuko act so emotional.

"Ready?" Riku asked. He was holding on to Yuko's bags, blown-up floating animal thing, towels and so on. He was over-burdened but seemed absolutely eager to do EVERYTHING he could for Yuko. Most everyone was here, except for Kai and Kuu wondered out loud where the missing member of Persona was.

"Oh, Kai said to go without him."

"Then I guess we should." Atsuko said brightly. Mariko was not fooled by Atsuko's fake brightness but understood that Atsuko didn't want to talk about it when she saw her friend slow down and drop to the back of the group. So Mariko left her alone.

"Hey." Mayu trailed back too as the loud group continued towards the beach near the hotel. Atsuko smiled a bit at Tomochin's assistant, trying her best to keep up appearances.

"Hey, you ready for the beach?" Atsuko asked politely, not really feeling like small talk but knowing that she should. Mayu shrugged.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." Mayu shrugged, then her voice took on a starstruck quality. "Hey, did you see Ray? Wow, I mean, Ray! The super charismatic Diva!"

"Yes." Atsuko's tone of voice made it apparent that she didn't really want to talk about Ray, but Mayu continued blithely on.

"Wow, so I guess the rumours about her and Kai ARE true."

Now Atsuko was intrigued and gave Mayu a sidelong look. "What rumours?"

"Well," Mayu shrugged. "I heard that Ray and Kai are sort of an item."

That rumour wasn't something Mayu was making up, but it was something that was floating around only the people that worked closely with Ray or Persona. Atsuko almost stumbled, a bit shocked by the news.

"Really?" The actress tried to be nonchalent about it.

"Yeah." Mayu smiled. "They're really cute together, aren't they?"

"Yeah, right?" Atsuko smiled weakly at Mayu, not knowing how to handle this news. Nami had told her last night that she was Kai because she wanted to be an idol... she hadn't told her about Ray. And Atsuko had been slightly put-out by the fact that Kai received daily messages from Ray, enough for Kai to find it strange when Ray didn't message him at a certain time. "Come on, lets join the others."

"Okay." Mayu smiled, quickening her steps.

* * *

Kai sat in the lobby in his wetsuit, waiting for Ray. He was uncomfortable. Everybody was giving him weird looks because he was in his wetsuit.

"Kai!" Ray's voice made him look up, scowling.

"Finally, I thought you had... forgotten... about..." Kai trailed off, completely stunned. In a big floppy hat and a beautiful, simple white cover up which basically just looked like a large white men's shirt over her white bikini, Ray looked amazing. How did Kai know that Ray was wearing a white bikini? One shoulder of the white cover up had slipped down so everyone could see that Ray's bikini was white in colour and was a halter-top style.

"Woah." Kai stood up respectfully. With her signature sunglasses perched on top of her head, Ray did a little twirl.

"How do I look?" Ray asked, watching Kai with a knowing smile.

"You're gorgeous." Kai blurted out, then clapped his hands over his mouth as Ray blushed prettily. "Um. Come on. They're waiting for us."

"Okay." Ray put her sunglasses on, feeling eyes on them. She knew people were starting to recognize her. A couple of guys were whispering to each other and motioning to Ray excitedly making the Diva regret slightly that she had refused to bring her bodyguard, Hiro along on this trip.

"They won't bother us." Kai had also spotted those guys. But he had also spotted a few people that were working on the Three Sisters drama. He lead Ray to these people and in a bigger group, they headed out to the beach and fans who recognized Ray kept away. Ray smiled down at Kai, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. It didn't take them too long to get to the beach and they walked along, unmolested. It was only until Ray arrived at the piece of beach the first group were on that paparazzi taking photos of them a ways away noticed Japan's number one selling idol.

"It's Ray!" Even though the press were keeping a good distance away, their excited murmuring reached Atsuko and she turned around to catch sight of Ray walking towards them, talking animatedly to an attentive Kai. When the blonde let out a laugh at something Ray had said, Atsuko felt strange again. It was... an unpleasant feeling.

"Oh no." Kuu moaned. "She's here!"

"Be nice." Riku scolded his bandmate though he wasn't that fond of Ray either. Loved her music, but really, who knew there would be such a huge disconnect from what Riku thought she was and what Ray really was?

"What?" The glares Kai was getting from Mariko, Yuko and Atsuko surprised the blonde. What had he done? "What? I did say I was going to be late."

Ray took off her sunglasses, haughty attitude intact, looking down at the three actresses. Atsuko looked away while Mariko glared back and Yuko's glare was... slowly... dropping lower. Leaning backwards, she motioned Riku closer.

"Comparatively, Nyan-nyan's are better!" Yuko reached out and placed a hand on Riku's bound chest, whispering lowly. Riku 'accidentally' stepped on Yuko's toes.

"I-TAAAA!" Yuko jumped around, holding her foot.

"Oh," Riku batted his eyelashes innocently. "I'm so sorry. I didn't see your foot there. How awful of me."

Kai took this moment to give a low appreciative whistle at what Atsuko was wearing. In a pink, white and green patterned bikini, Atsuko looked adorably hot.

"Nice, Acchan!" Kai gave a thumbs-up, earning him a smack from Ray while Atsuko blushed scarlet.

"Okay boys, your surfing teachers are here!" Megumi said cheerfully. "Have fun!"

"OSU!" Kai, Riku and Kuu raised a fist in the air enthusiastically.

"Wait, I want to surf too!" Mariko broke off glaring at Ray to cast around desperately for her sunblock. That was what she had been doing before Ray and Kai got there.

"You mean, you don't melt when you touch water?" Kuu said in exaggerated shock. "Oh my!"

"Funny." Mariko held her temper, KNOWING that Kuu was the one who had thrown her bottle of sunblock away somewhere. She deserved that after rigging Kuu's room but wow... Kuu could hold a grudge.

"Here." Atsuko held out her own bottle of sunblock. "Use mine."

Before long, the people who wanted to go surfing had run off and the people who hadn't were occupying themselves with other things to do. Tomomi was lying in the shade, snoozing. Ray was sitting beside her, knees drawn up to her chest, happily watching Kai listening attentively to the surfing instructor. Mayu had her hood up and also stayed in the shade, feeling uncomfortable. Tomochin and Atsuko were in the water with some others from their group, throwing a beach ball around and laughing.

"You okay?" When the ball had gone a ways off and Tomochin and Atsuko had both swam off to get it, Tomochin took the opportunity to talk to the quiet idol. The hair and make up artist wasn't completely stupid. Atsuko was not happy that Ray was here and getting time in with Kai and even though Ray was Tomochin's friend, so was Atsuko.

"I'm fine." Atsuko smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because of a certain somebody-"

"I'm not upset with Kai." Atsuko blurted out. Tomochin gave Atsuko a sly smile.

"I never said anything about Kai. Are you upset with Kai?"

"Why should I be?"

"Yeah, why should she be?" Kai asked, startling Atsuko. She turned around to see Kai standing there with his surfboard, wet and grinning at Atsuko. "Look at me! I'm a surfer!"

"Hey." Atsuko went cold immediately, wading away. Kai was stunned. Atsuko WAS upset with him! What had he done?

"Go after her, idiot." Tomochin urged. Kai didn't need to be told twice. Dragging his surfboard along, he caught up to Atsuko quickly as Tomochin watched, shaking her head. What was it about the blonde that got people going so crazy over him? She just didn't see it.

"Hey, wanna talk?"

"About what?"

"I dunno. Whatever's bothering you." Kai shrugged. Atsuko raised an eyebrow at the blonde who just blinked at her innocently.

"You don't even know?"

"I..." Kai was bewildered. Did he do something wrong? "Look, lets go out a bit further so we can talk about this. Get on."

Atsuko gave Kai a dubious look. But she rolled up on top of the board and Kai kicked them further out towards Kuu, Yuko, Mariko and Riku who were waiting for waves.

"Atsuko, Atsuko!" Mariko dragged Atsuko's board closer, worked up about something. "I am just... Atsuko, I am going to have a heart attack because of the stupidity of this-"

"We're going out!" Yuko simpered, leaning her head on Riku's shoulder, but careful not to stay in that position for too long because of the cameras on them. Mariko smacked Yuko's bare leg, eliciting a yelp from the dimple-y woman.

"You CAN'T be going out!" Mariko's hands were aching to wrap around Yuko's neck and strangle the happy woman to death. No jury would convict her!

"I'm taking responsibility." Riku said solemnly. "I know I behaved badly-"

"You don't have to take responsibility-"

"Mariko's just angry cuz she's old and nobody wants her." Kuu said snidely.

"You are THIS close, mister-"

"To what, huh?" Kuu challenged. "What? Are you going to put dog poo all over my room? Cochroaches in my bed? PORN ON MY TV?"

"...nothing." Mariko stewed in her anger.

"That's right." Kuu crossed his arms, smug.

"So have you two made up?" Yuko paddled closer, giving Kai a disapproving look. "I hope not cuz what you've been doing Kai, is grounds for a break up!"

"What?" Kai was treading water and looked around at the angry faces of Atsuko's friends. "What'd I do?"

"You and Ray!" Mariko glowered at the blonde in the water.

"Yeah, what's up with that, huh?" Yuko pointed out. "Are you going out with Ray too? Are you two-timing Atsuko? Have you felt Ray's boobs? IF YOU HAVE, HOW DID THEY FEEL-"

Riku and Mariko both shoved Yuko off her surfboard and into the ocean.

"Someone doesn't like others saying anything about boobs because she has none." Kuu said in a loud stage whisper to Atsuko. "Someone. I'm not saying who. But someone."

"That. Is. IT!" Mariko growled and launched into an all-out water fight with Kuu, kicking and splashing water at the young man who was giving as good as he was getting. Kai had grabbed his board with Atsuko on it and kicked them away from the water fight. He did NOT want to get involved with Kuu and Mariko's battles.

"So you're angry with me because of Ray?" Kai asked quietly. Mariko and Kuu's squealing sounded far in the distance. There was only the ocean, the sun, the gulls and the two of them floating away from everyone else.

"It's not that." Atsuko sounded like a petulant child. Well, it was that. But Atsuko didn't want to be WEIRD. "It's just... I'm worried about you and Ray. She's after you all the time-"

"Don't worry about her, we're just friends." Kai grumbled, holding on to the board to stay afloat.

"Like how I'm your friend?"

Kai looked up at Atsuko seriously. "No. Not like how you're my friend. Ray likes Kai even though Ray doesn't know much about Kai. Maeda Atsuko knows almost everything about Kai and is still friends with him. You're not JUST my friend." Kai's grin warmed Atsuko like the sun on her shoulders. "You're my Acchan."

"You two," Riku paddled over to them, breaking up the moment. "There's no waves and I think it's safer if we all go back to shore. Mariko and Kuu are gonna drown each other out here."

They all agreed and started paddling back, Riku having a harder time than normal since Yuko insisted on holding on to Riku's board and asking him sweetly to paddle her to shore.

"Kai!" Ray was in the ocean, waiting for him to return. She had seen him load Atsuko on to his board and swim further out and that had made her so furious. Mayu had shrugged when Ray shot her a look. There was nothing Mayu could do to stop them from hanging out with each other with their friends and it would've been strange if Mayu had suddenly wanted to join in on that group. At least with the paparazzi's cameras around, there wouldn't be any hanky-panky.

Kai was swimming back, pushing the board with Atsuko on it. Ray was careful not to go further than mid-waist, waiting patiently for Kai to get closer.

"Hey." Kai gave Ray a weak smile, unable to avoid the songstress without seeming rude.

"Kai!" Ray waded forward a bit more then squealed when she couldn't touch ocean floor, dropping until the water was up to her chin. Panicking, she flailed a bit and backed up to where the water was once again at mid-waist.

"You can't swim?" Kai asked in amusement. Atsuko was also watching the songstress with a small smile on her face, as if trying not to laugh.

"Nobody ever taught me." Ray muttered, embarassed. She had always been too busy for stuff like that when she was a kid. She had school, then after-school classes to go to, then homework and then music practice. There was little time for things like swimming or playing.

"It's a life skill!" Kai exclaimed, shaking his head. He realized suddenly that he hated how Ray looked so dejected at being unable to swim. "It's easy, come on. Acchan, I'll be right back."

Kai gave Atsuko an apologetic look, hoping that the other woman would understand. The small man HAD brought Ray along and hadn't been spending any time with her. It was only right that he did. Atsuko tried her best to be okay with it and smiled at Kai, though the actress was absolutely NOT okay with it. Kai didn't notice but Ray, however, did. And she flashed Atsuko a smug smile when Kai wasn't looking.

Atsuko narrowed her eyes at Ray.

"Can you put your face in the water? If you can't, we can work on that first." Kai was quickly surrounded by Riku and Kuu who wanted to see how good Kai's lesson was while Mariko and Yuko just floated around glaring at Kai. The small young man was quite serious about teaching swimming though and it became boring for all the observers quickly.

"Booo..." Kuu waded away, then caught sight of Tomochin on shore, trying to pull Tomomi towards the water.

"Hey, lets help Tomochin!" Kuu clapped his hands together, glad he had found something to do. Unable to think of anything better, Riku shrugged and joined Kuu with Yuko trailing after them and finally Mariko went too, dragging Atsuko on Kai's board with her. But not before bumping Kai with her board deliberately.

"Itai!" Kai hissed.

"Hey, be careful!" Ray, who had been practicing putting her head in the water, looked after Mariko's board angrily while blinking water out of her eyes.

"Oh, I'm soooo sorry." Mariko sing-songed, not bothering to look back at them. "I didn't see you!"

"She totally saw us." Ray did NOT like people hurting her Kai. She also didn't like how Kai was watching Atsuko leave, giving that woman on the board an exaggerated sad face at her parting. Atsuko giggled at Kai's expression then when Kai wasn't looking, gave Ray one of her own smug smirks.

"Don't worry bout me, I don't bruise that easily." Kai reassurred a fuming Ray, completely oblivious to Atsuko and Ray's little back and forth. He held his hands out to the Diva. "Come on, I want you to be able to at least doggy-paddle before we gotta go back."

Quickly forgetting all about Atsuko, Ray smiled toothily at Kai and the blonde couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle. Ray looked like a cute kid learning to swim for the first time.

"No, get away get away get away!" Kuu, Mariko, Yuko and Tomochin were running after Tomomi who just wasn't fast enough as Yuko caught hold of her first, then the rest of them picked her up and lifted her bodily into the water. Riku, meanwhile, had gone up to shore to sit beside Mayu.

"Aren't you hot?" Riku asked the young girl in the hoodie. he sat on one side of Mayu while Atsuko sat down on Mayu's other side. The young girl had been wearing the hoodie the entire time!

"A little." Mayu admitted. But the hoodie gave her security. She was uncomfortable in settings like this, more suited for background lurking and dark corners. In the sun, she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb.

"You should take it off." Atsuko said innocently. Mayu quickly caught on to the fact that something was up.

"Why?" Mayu glanced at Riku and Atsuko sideways, cautious. The young spy suddenly realized that she was being surrounded on all sides.

"So it won't get wet." Mariko, called out, grinning. Mayu got up, trying to make a break for it but Tomomi was there to block her path.

"Sorry." The writer apologized, still dripping wet from being thrown into the ocean. "But if I get wet, so does everyone else!"

"No!" Mayu screeched as Yuko, Kuu and Mariko attacked, yanking off her hoodie and pulling off her wrap-around skirt while screaming 'TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!'

"Let me go let me go let me go!" Mayu struggled helplessly but she too was lifted bodily into the air while everyone was chanting 'THROW HER IN, THROW HER IN!'

"Well." Kai watched in amusement with Ray as Mayu took a quick dunk in the water, coming up sputtering in front of the blonde and his earnest suitor.

"Don't." Mayu warned when Kai looked about to laugh.

"Hey, don't get mad at me." Kai raised up his hands. "I was here all along with Ray."

Meanwhile, the people who had thrown her in were laughing uproariously, Kuu and Mariko leaning against each other for support since they were laughing so hard their sides were hurting. They quickly realized what they were doing however and jumped apart, glaring at each other for breaching personal space.

"Little mouse," Ray leaned in, speaking quietly. "It's okay to get revenge."

Mayu's eyes gleamed with evil glee. Then without another word, she launched into an all-out water fight with the girls that her thrown her in. Teams were made with Kai, Ray and Mayu making one team, Tomomi and Tomochin making up another team and Riku, Yuko and Atsuko on the third team. It was funny watching them fighting, with Mayu trying to drench everybody who threw her in, Tomomi squealing and hiding behind Tomochin and Yuko and Riku attacking everyone together. Kai was trying to get everyone too but seemed to go really easy on Atsuko as Atsuko did the same for him. Ray was primarily trying to drown Atsuko and Atsuko was doing the same to Ray. Kuu and Mariko had surprisingly teamed up, putting aside their differences to form a SUPER-DRENCHING POWER, getting everyone in their paths.

"Idiots." Saeko muttered, underneath her umbrella. She was in an old-style one piece thing and looked like... someone closely related to the Addams' family. "They look like they've completely forgotten there are cameras on them."

"Look like?" Megumi was sun-bathing in a gold bikini, looking scandalously good. "They HAVE forgotten there are cameras here. The press is going to have a field day with this."

"Oh, let them alone." Marilyn was also in a scandalous bikini, blue with white polka-dots. "They seem to be having a lot of fun."

Saeko could see that they were and decided that she'd give them another half-an-hour before making them go back inside. They had work! Time flies when you're having fun though, and that extra half-an-hour came really quickly and everyone was called back in. Complaining heartily, the boys and girls trudged back to shore. They were having fun! Even Mayu was unwilling to leave the water, unaware that she had a sad puppy-dog pout on her face.

"Hurry it up!" Saeko made whipping motions with her hands and Persona as a group, flinched and started jogging. "FASTERRRR..." The three men broke out into a run, only pausing to grab a towel and a bottle of unmarked special shampoo from Marilyn then sprinting for the hotel in fear.

"They're fast." Ray commented, impressed.

* * *

Everybody was showered, toweled off and make-up free after their dip in the ocean. Another meeting room had been set up for them so they could hang out and work on their scripts. Tomomi was sitting in with the actors as they read the script together to get a feel for how they would play them. Three Sisters relied heavily on the writer's ability to captivate the audience, this reliance started early when Three Sisters was a low-budget movie that got stretched out into hour-long episodes after rave reviews and ratings.

"Coffee. Two creams and none of that half and half bullshit. And I only use fair trade sugar." Kuu read his lines smugly, seeing Mariko glower at him. They were so in character it was scary.

"We only have decaf, that half and half bullshit and sweetener." Mariko snapped back. The two acted as if Mariko was actually Fumiko and Kuu was actually Misuze Yuu. They were antagonizing each other so thoroughly that it was driving the both of them up the wall.

"Good, good!" Tomomi smiled at the two, delighted that they were EXACTLY how she pictured Fumiko and Yuu would act together. There was a knock at the door and Mayu stuck her head in.

"Dinner!" Take out was brought in from some Okinawan restaurant and they attacked the spread with gusto while still working. Yuko and Riku were next, reading their lines as they dug in to their food. Mayu was invited to stick around and she did just that, eating quietly at the table while listening to them practice.

"But you know, that fish looks like someone..." Yuko started out, her voice tentative and shy, completely different from her true character. It was like talking to a different person! Riku was stunned for a bit, but then hurriedly gave his line.

"Like some celebrity, like-"

"Sylvestor Stallone!" Yuko and Riku said in unison and grinned at each other. They were practicing the scene where Aki and Ruki first meet at an aquarium and their awkward shyness was too cute for words. Again, it was exactly like how Tomomi pictured they would be and she was quietly squealing to herself as they continued talking about fishes and slowly, a little bit about themselves. Riku seemed enchanted by 'Aki'.

As Yuko, Riku, Mariko and Kuu worked on their scenes quietly, Tomomi came to Kai and Atsuko, a bit worried. Atsuko seemed really nervous and was whispering her lines to herself quietly. Kai looked like he was struggling with his script too.

"Problems?" Tomomi asked anxiously.

"A little." Kai admitted. "I can't seem to picture it."

Yuko, the more experienced actress of all the people in the room was at Kai's side in a moment with her copy of the script, quickly reading through their scene.

"We can do this together." Yuko motioned for everyone to come close. "Mariko and Kuu will play thug number one and two. The rest of us will watch and give commentary."

Kuu and Mariko quickly went through the lines and signalled they were ready to act out Kenji and Eri's first meeting.

"Hey, honey." Kuu leered at Atsuko in a truly perverse manner. "Why don'tchu come party with us?"

"Let go of me." Atsuko said coldly, acting disinterested quite well. Tomomi studied the scene, nodding. Atsuko's strong point was having absolutely no feelings whatsoever.

"Come on," Tomomi was delighted at Mariko's portrayal of thug #2. But then, Mariko always had the bully-type personality. "You can take some time, come party with us for a bit, little bit of karaoke, sweetcheeks-"

"Get off me!" Mariko was deliberately stepping into Atsuko's personal space and dragging her closer. Both Mariko and Yuko knew how to push Atsuko's buttons since they spent so much time together and it was the only way to get Atsuko in the right mindset for some scenes. Atsuko absolutely HATED people touching her without permission, even her friends sometimes riled her. Especially if they had grabbed at her like Mariko just did.

"Oi!" Kai had been standing off to the side but now jumped in, not liking how the scene was going at all, sensing Atsuko's discomfort.

"Your line's not until after 'Acchan' has replied to the thugs, Mr. Uda Kenji." Yuko pointed out dryly. Kai blushed scarlet at jumping the gun and stepped back, muttering an apology. They started over again and finally Kai jumped in at the right part.

"Hey," Kai's bright portrayal of Atsuko's love interest was cute as he trotted over to her. They didn't know he was drawing on memories of Nami and Atsuko's first meeting. "Sorry, have you been waiting long?"

"Who the hell are you?" Thug #1 sneered.

"Her boyfriend." Kai shot back, putting Atsuko behind him so he stood between the two men and Atsuko.

"Okay, at this part, Atsuko... I think you should sorta be looking at Kai with a little bit of amusement like 'I can't believe this guy is playing knight in shining armour'." Yuko directed. Atsuko did just that and Riku had to hold back a giggle. For scenes like this that called for emotions like disinterest, revulsion, derision and others like it came easy to Atsuko.

"You alright?" Kai asked after the two guys had left when Riku, playing a policeman passing by, scared the thugs off.

"Yeah, fine." Atsuko was still polite, cautiously waiting for the other shoe to drop. Eri, the character Atsuko portrayed, always thought the worst of people. Atsuko drew on her own natural suspicion of helpful strangers, especially male strangers. "Thanks."

"No problem. Watch out around this part of town, eh?" With that, Kai walked off. Atsuko was a little bit stunned and glanced down at her script. That was it?

"That look on your face was perfect." Mariko gave Atsuko a thumbs-up. "The script says that Eri is taken aback that the guy wants nothing from her in return for his help."

And lets skip the part where she meets up with some guy she met on the internet to party, that part should be a no-brainer for you." Yuko hummed. "Okay. This is after you've left the club since you were bored with your date. We'll play drunk hostesses harassing your love interest. You jump in, taking a page from his books and pretend to be his girlfriend to save him."

"What-" Kai backed up in alarm but was completely surrounded on all sides. Mayu was also watching this scene with rapt attention, very interested in how this would pan out. Plus, she had her trusty camera handy to take pictures for Ray. The Diva had been barred from this practice session.

Riku and Kuu grinned, latching on to Kai. Mariko was grabbing at Kai, giggling while Yuko had grabbed Kai's face and was trying to kiss him.

"HEY!" Atsuko shouted angrily.

"That's it," Yuko grinned slyly at Atsuko while still trying to kiss a still struggling Kai. "You're pretending to be his irrate girlfriend. Pretending."

"Not doing a good job of pretending she's pretending," Mariko mummbled. Riku and Kuu nodded in agreement while Kai blushed hotly. Tomomi was missing all the teasing and just BURSTING with joy at how well Atsuko was acting out emotions! She had written an emotional scene for Atsuko to play out once in the first episode of Three Sisters. She had had to burn that part of the script because Atsuko just couldn't play the role and Tomomi couldn't watch Atsuko try. It was just... awkward. Very awkward. The director had been frustrated with Atsuko, Tomomi had been frustrated with the actress, EVERYONE watching the trainwreck of a scene happening just cringed at how bad it got. Even with that scene taken out, critics had singled Atsuko out as the weakest link in Three Sisters, although for some reason, the fans LOVED her.

It wasn't that Atsuko was horrible all the time, the woman was just so tensed up when she played her role. But now, it was like the emotions flowed naturally and she actually seemed to care about Kai.

"That's my boyfriend you bitches are all over and if you don't get off him NOW, I will rip your eyes out so help me god!" Atsuko was improvising now. That was not in the script. It was delightfully scary and the 'girls' all over Kai vacated with squeals of 'scary!' that was not at all faked, but Tomomi didn't know that.

"Wonderful!" Tomomi squealed as Kai stood there, stunned by Atsuko's foul-mouthed improvisation. The normally quiet idol was regretting her outburst right now as her co-stars all hid from her.

"Um. Thanks." Kai blinked at Atsuko. "Well."

"Well," Atsuko looked through her script frantically. 'Eri is frantic for something to break the awkwardness. Strange. That's exactly how I feel right now'.

"You can buy me ramen to thank me!" Atsuko blurted out the next line, then with a little bit more control of her emotions, "It's the least you can do."

"You're right." Kai nodded. "It is the least I could do."

"Anddddd... SCENE!" Yuko shouted and everyone burst into applause, but no-one clapped as loudly as Tomomi who was staring between Atsuko and Kai with tears in her eyes. Finally! The actress that Maeda Atsuko COULD be! Finally! Tomomi knew that person was buried somewhere deep inside Atsuko!

"Just do what you did just now, tomorrow. And we'll have the BEST story-arc this series has ever seen!" Tomomi jumped up and down in joy. Atsuko herself had just realized herself what had happened, placing a hand over her heart in alarm. That was the best acting she had done EVER!

"Told you, you'd be alright." Kai winked at Atsuko.

* * *

endnote: Wow. This day just does not end, does it?


	14. Chapter 14

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 14

author's note: To all of you who read this and review, thank you so much. Your reviews are really damn helpful and I hope y'all keep reading and enjoying!

* * *

"Ray-beeeee..." Tomochin whined. The two were currently sitting in a cafe somewhere in Okinawa, enjoying the patio with cool drinks. Well, Tomochin was enjoying it anyways, Ray was shredding her coaster into pieces and looked just about ready to bolt. The charismatic Diva was in a disguise provided by Mayu which consisted of an overly large black hoodie, baggy jeans, t-shirt and running shoes. It significantly reduced the looks she would get when she was out in public.

"I told you to stop calling me that." Ray snapped. She was feeling irritable because she KNEW Maeda Atsuko was cozying up to her Kai and she was in these unglamorous clothes. What she was wearing was a great disguise, yes, but it was not sexy! What if Kai saw her?

"Stop thinking about the shrimp and have fun!" Tomochin threw a fry at Ray.

Ray picked up the fry and threw it back. "Rude!"

"You're rude!" Tomochin ducked and shot back. "Here I am spending my day off with you and all you're doing is moping."

Tomochin did have a point and Ray sighed. "Sorry."

The hair and make-up artist really didn't like seeing Ray all depressed, though, and tried to cheer up the popular idol. "Come on, we can go sight-seeing after this and I think there might be some night markets we can browse through. Maybe you can buy some nice new bikinis. I'm sure Kai would love seeing you in them."

"If he even notices me with Maeda there." Ray muttered. "That home-wrecking-"

"You noticed that too, huh?" Tomochin cut off what Ray was going to say, pretty sure that it was going to be something that would hurt her delicate ears. "I thought you were too enamoured with your little Kai to see that he's straying a bit."

"My Kai wouldn't cheat on me!" Ray hissed.

"Your Kai?" Tomochin raised an eyebrow. "Seems like he's more 'Acchan's Kai than anything else."

"Acchan." Ray narrowed her eyes at that nickname. Apparently, Kai had given that nickname to Maeda Atsuko. Kai never gave Ray a nickname.

"Are you SURE you two are going out?" Tomochin asked dubiously. Her friend, usually level-headed and cool, was obviously being thrown for a loop. The popular blonde member of Persona was most likely scamming on Ray with Atsuko! And even more likely, probably scamming on Atsuko with some other piece on the side that they didn't know about!

"We are." Ray said firmly. They were taking things slow, that was all. But she had this little niggling doubt that Kai didn't care for her as much as Ray cared about him.

"Sure doesn't seem like it." Tomochin grumbled. Ray's uncertain look was too much to take though, so the wavy-haired make-up artist changed the subject. "So tell me why you like this guy anyways. He doesn't really seem that special."

"He is." Ray traced a finger down the glass of her iced cocoa. "He's special to me. I couldn't keep my eyes off of him when I first saw him..."

Ray remembered watching the blonde performing with Riku at Music 10. It had been like she was struck by lightning, it was just an unexplainable attraction to this brash, loud boy. She was the most popular idol of her time, people fell all over themselves to be with her, vied for her attention. Idols, superstars, celebrities, boys, girls, whatever. But she had fallen in love only once ever and that was with Kai. Ray liked to think that she was an extremely good judge of character and the feel of Kai's overall being just pulled her to him... yet she couldn't define exactly what it was of Kai's that made her love him. She just loved him inexorably, unexplainably, deeply and madly. He shone for her like no-one else ever had and when he looked at her she felt like her heart would burst.

"I don't know how to explain it to you." Ray shrugged, stirring her melting drink. "I love him so much I don't know what to do. When he's not around, all I can think about is him. When he touches me-" Tomochin made a noise of disgust which Ray ignored, "I feel light-headed-"

"Maybe you're just anemic-itai!" Tomochin pouted when Ray reached over and pinched her arm lightly.

"Anyways." Ray glowered at Tomochin. "Like I was saying, he just makes me happy. When we kiss, it's like nothing in the world exists. I like him so much sometimes it hurts..."

"Ray-bee... Ray." Tomochin caught her friend's hand, looking at the star sadly. Ray was truly and completely gaa-gaa for Kai. She had never seen Ray, in all their years of friendship, act like this. The Ray in private settings was not one for extreme shows of emotions whether it be surprise, fear or showing like or dislike. The times Ray had been afraid, she had just closed her eyes and shut down. When Ray was surprised, she would let out a little squeak and jump a bit, but that was it. When Ray liked something, like food or music, she would say so calmly. Also, when she disliked something, she would also calmly condemn whatever had earned her displeasure.

This Ray, the squealing, puppy-ish, lovestruck, helpless Ray was new to Tomochin and the glamorous hair-and-make up artist worried about how deep her friend's feelings were and how hurt she'd be if Kai was actually two-timing her. Or if Ray even saw that Kai might just be not that into her.

"What if... what if Kai doesn't like you that much?"

It was a serious question from Tomochin that Ray took equally seriously. The look on Ray's face said it all. Devastation.

"But I'm sure he likes you a lot!" Tomochin laughed hurriedly, the relieved smile on Ray's face almost painful to look at. Just then, Ray's cellphone chirped at her and she opened up the flip phone to squeal gleefully.

"It's Kai!" Ray looked up at Itano Tomomi with just the biggest grin in the world, her eyes sparkling so much behind her sunglasses that Tomochin was pretty sure she would've been blinded by that smile if Ray hadn't been wearing sunglasses.

_Having fun? We're still working. Sorry I couldn't come play hooky with you, hope Tomochin is having fun too! I'm going to see if I can get some time off to finish teaching you how to doggy-paddle. Swimming is a life skill, yo_

"He's so sweet." Ray cooed and passed the phone over to Tomochin. The wavey-haired woman took Ray's phone, reading the message critically. No smiley face or heart emoticons. Either Kai was just a really simple kinda guy or he saved the emoticons for Maeda. But his message had been cute, talk of playing hooky brought up a bad-boy image and the swimming thing could be a flirty thing.

"Hey, Ray." Tomochin grinned and pressed the camera button on Ray's phone. Atsuko and Ray were both her friends. Tomochin was going to stay the hell out of this little love triangle but Ray, right now, seemed to need all the help she could get at leveling the playing field. "Give me your sexiest pose and we'll send this pic to Kai. Lets see him resist you now!"

* * *

Kai had heard his phone chirp not long after he had sent a message to Ray. Barred from going to watch Kai go through his script with the other actors, the songstress had put on the saddest face in the world as Kai closed the door on her. Ray's face kept popping into Kai's head while he was going over the script and he couldn't get the image out until he had messaged the woman.

'Must be a reply.' Kai opened up his phone as everybody worked quietly. It was a bit stressful since they had to memorize most of their lines- "AHHH!"

All eyes were on Kai as he shut his phone with a resounding snap.

"Kai?" Atsuko raised an eyebrow at the blonde. He was red as a tomato. "What's wrong?"

"Spam." Kai mumbled. "Phone spam. Nothing. Nothing at all."

That 'phone spam' was a picture of Ray sitting at a table with a black hoodie on, one sleeve of her t-shirt slipping off to reveal a black lacey bra. But it wasn't what she was wearing but what she was doing. Leaning forward, Ray had a tall glass of iced cocoa or something in her hands with whipped cream leaking off the side. Ray was licking the cream from the side of the glass suggestively, eyes half-lidded in pleasure, giving the camera a smoldering gaze. All Kai could think about when he saw that picture was Ray's tongue on his finger, warm and wet, sliding and sucking-

"Hey!" Kuu snapped his fingers in front of Kai's face, snapping the blonde out of it. "You okay? You're breathing weird."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Kai muttered then jumped a bit when he heard his phone chime again. He opened his phone cautiously, relieved it was just a plain text mail.

_When are you done? I miss you! Lets go for dessert after!_

Kai looked up at the clock on the wall. They had been at it for almost three hours now, Mayu and Tomomi were helping people read small parts and worked to give the actors their opinion. Mayu was surprisingly helpful, knowing exactly what Tomomi was looking for in the actors and coaching them accordingly.

Atsuko was completely focused on her work, as was Yuko and Mariko. The girls all had a lot of lines to memorize while Persona didn't have very many lines since this was the first episode in this Okinawa story arc. Kuu and Riku had a lot more to memorize than Kai though, who only had the few lines with Atsuko. Their interaction relied mostly on how well they could convey a deep connection with as few words as possible. It would require a lot of acting from Kai and Atsuko and the blonde couldn't help feeling more than a little bit nervous...

_Where are you thinking of eating dessert?_ Kai quickly and discreetly tapped out.

A few seconds later, a reply: _Kai has an early day tomorrow, so tomo and i will come back to the hotel. The restaurant at the hotel has some good creme brulee, I heard_

"Guys, wanna go for dessert after?" Kai asked suddenly, getting everyone's attention.

"Mmmm..." Yuko grinned apologetically. "I don't know. I think I'm going to try to take some extra time to do this..."

"Ah, don't worry." Kai laughed sheepishly. "I sound like a slacker, don't I?"

"Well, maybe you need a break." Riku was watching Kai worriedly, that weird breathing thing Kai had been doing had been strange. Maybe the room's air circulation was poor and Kai was having problems... "Do you have like asthma or something? Are you gonna be okay?"

Now all eyes turned to Kai and he tried his best to keep his cool, but... he just couldn't tell them why he had been weird before!

"Are you okay?" Atsuko reached forward to feel Kai's forehead, also worried now. "You're really warm."

"I'm fine!" Kai protested. "Really!"

"Maybe you need a break." Atsuko put her script down. "Want to go for a walk?"

Now the blonde felt really bad.

"No, really guys. I don't want to disrupt everybody." Kai had already gone through the few lines he had perfectly to Kasai's satisfaction. Everybody else was still working on their lines together. "Um... how about you guys stay here and I'll try to grab something up for us?"

"I wanna go too!" Both Mariko and Kuu chirped and then glared at each other.

"No, I'm going. YOU stay HERE!" Kuu slapped the table.

"No." Mariko gritted out. "I wanna go! I need a break from you!"

"HA!" Kuu crossed his arms. "You mean *I* need a break from YOU."

"Guys." Kai spoke up weakly. "We can all go together."

In the end, Kai, Kuu, Mariko, Atsuko, Tomomi and Mayu decided to head down to find a convenience store to buy frozen treats. The only people left in the room were Riku and Yuko, who were hard at work. Surprisingly, Yuko was studiously practicing her lines with Riku and not trying to cop a feel or anything!

"Do you think I'm getting this right?" Yuko chewed on her bottom lip, asking Riku's opinion after they had gone through a part Yuko was having difficulty with.

"You're doing great!" Riku reassured her. "In fact, I'm surprised that you're so good at this. Cuz you know, you're always just fooling around-"

"I don't play around all the time." Yuko looked genuinely hurt. "I work really hard when the situation calls for it and I play really hard too, to relax. I'm serious about the things I want."

"Oh, it's just-"

"What? I seem like a flake?" Yuko raised an eyebrow. "I don't seem like I pull my weight? I ride on Atsuko and Mariko's coattails?"

"No, I never said any of that!" Riku shook his head.

"Well, what do you mean?" Yuko asked frostily.

"It's just... you know, I'm sorry..." Riku babbled.

"Hmph." Yuko turned back to her script. "You know, lets just continue practicing."

While Riku sat in the room alone with Yuko wondering how he could apologize to Yuko, the rest of the group were downstairs already heading out of the hotel.

"So are you really okay?" Atsuko and Kai were walking behind the group. Mayu and Tomomi were watching Mariko and Kuu arguing with each other on what frozen treats were best. Kai was just finishing up sending a message on his cellphone and jammed his phone back in his pocket when he was finished.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kai sighed. "I was just freaking out before cuz Ray sent me a photo."

"Ray?" Atsuko frowned. She couldn't help it. She just didn't like Ray that much and she was sure the feeling was mutual. "What kind of photo?"

Kai's red face told Atsuko everything. She was going to ask Kai about it some more when hands came up from behind Kai and covered his eyes.

"Guess who?" Ray giggled. She had just gotten to the front of the hotel when Kai's email about him heading to the convenience store to buy snacks came through. She had dragged Tomochin along with her to search them out and had thankfully found her Kai heading towards the nearest Lawsons.

"Gee, I dunno." Kai said sarcastically. "Namie Amuro?"

"No." Ray made a frown-y face. Tomochin said hello to Atsuko and watched Ray and Kai with a bemused smile.

"Koda Kumi?"

"No!"

"Angelina?"

"One more guess." Ray warned. "If you don't get it right, I'll be mad."

Kai paused for a second, weighing the pros and cons of getting the Diva mad at him. Finally, he sighed. "Ray."

"Good boy!" Ray removed her hands from his eyes and hugged him from behind. The blonde squirmed out of her grasp, his face flushed. Ray saw Atsuko glaring at her and gave the other woman a smirk.

"Oh, hey!" Kai looked Ray up and down and the songstress flushed red with embarassment, remembering what she was wearing. She didn't want Kai to see her in an outfit like this- "You look really good in that."

"Really?" Ray queried, looking down at herself. She felt like a bum.

"Really." Kai gave her another up and down. "I've never seen you in clothes like this before."

"Come on," Tomochin grabbed Kai, rolling her eyes at a frozen Ray. Really, Ray was just making it too easy for Kai. "Lets catch up with them."

"Lets go." Kai agreed. As soon as the blonde was out of hearing range, Ray started following, but slow enough for Atsuko to fall in step beside her. She had to have a talk with the actress and Ray was pretty sure Atsuko wanted to talk to her too.

"Stay away from Kai." Ray said simply, not looking at Atsuko, her eyes trained on the blonde in front who was at the moment, goofing around with Kuu and Tomochin. "He's mine."

"Oh?" Atsuko kept her tone casual and disinterested when what she really wanted to do was scream at Ray. "I was under the impression that Kai doesn't belong to anyone."

"You can continue thinking that if you want." Ray shrugged. "Just don't get in the way."

"What if I do?"

Ray stopped for a second to shoot Atsuko a cold look. The young actress took it without flinching. "Do you like him?"

"I..." Atsuko blinked. Well, of course she did! Nami was her friend...

"Like really like him." Ray clarified. "Like how I like him more than anyone."

"Well... um..." Atsuko didn't know what to say. Kai was Nami! Funny Nami who made her feel like everything would be fine, who was a breath of fresh air when Atsuko felt like she was drowning in everything. Nami kept her grounded. They had only known each other for maybe a few days and Atsuko couldn't think of not having Nami around all the time. But like LIKE Nami? Why was she feeling so uncomfortable with the idea of Kai and Ray together?

"If you don't, why are you trying to come between me and Kai?" Ray asked harshly. "What's your problem?"

"I-"

"Ray! Acchan!" Kai called out. They were at Lawsons already and the two women were lagging behind. "Come on, lets get popsicles and stuff!"

"Coming!" Ray called out cheerfully, then turned back to Atsuko, full Diva mode on, radiating danger. "I really like Kai. If you're just getting in the way for the fun of it, I won't stand by and do nothing. So back off."

Ray left Atsuko standing there for a second, not knowing what to think. Ray was right... why was she getting so worked up about Ray going after Kai? It wasn't as if Kai actually reciprocated the feelings Ray showed for him. But the problem, the main problem... why was Atsuko so bothered by it all?

Inside, Kuu, Kai and Mayu were looking in the freezer display, mouths watering at the sight of the frozen treats laid out before them.

"Mmmmm... redbean popsicle..." Kai licked his lips.

"Mmm... ice cream..." Mayu was eyeing the little cups of frozen haagen daaz icecream, specifically the cookies and cream one.

"Mmm... everything..." Kuu clapped his hands gleefully and opened the fridge to grab something random. His back suddenly spasmed and he retreated, hissing in pain.

"What happened to you?" Kai asked.

"I was stuck in an elevator all night." Kuu replied, trying to get at the spot on his back that was throbbing with pain. "Slept against a wall."

"Why didn't you call us?" Kai tried to massage the spot Kuu was motioning too. Unfortunately, he was doing it too hard causing Kuu to jump away, yelping in pain. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Kuu winced. He had been okay during the day but playing in the water today had aggravated his back. "I couldn't call, had no reception."

"You were stuck in there alone all night?" Mayu asked as she also tried her hand at giving Kuu a massage, but only managed to also hurt Kuu as he squirmed away from her hands. "Wasn't that scary?"

"Eh." Kuu shrugged, rolling his shoulders. "Well, I'm okay being alone in the dark."

Mariko was at the next aisle over and felt touched with Kuu's little white lie. He hadn't been alone. Mariko had been in the elevator with him, screaming in fear. And now, Mariko felt a little bit guilty.

"Tomomi wants puccho." Tomomi pouted at Tomochin, brandishing a package of candy and trying to throw it into Tomochin's basket.

"Tomomi needs to stop talking about herself in the third person." Tomochin rolled her eyes, picking out several packages of sour candy. "Tomomi needs to pay for her own candy and also pay for Tomochin's to make up for annoying her."

"Tomomi thinks Tomochin is being a big meanie!" Tomomi snapped back. The two friends bickered good-naturedly with each other while Atsuko browsed the shelves with a shopping basket.

"Hey," Kai approached the beautiful actress with Ray close behind, glaring at Atsuko. "Woah, you stocking up?"

Atsuko had nearly filled her basket with foodstuff already. Dried squid, preserved plums, chips, sour candies, gummies... she had them all.

"I eat a lot." Atsuko confessed quietly. Kai grinned at her, knowing that little tidbit already.

"I know." Kai held up a red Dars chocolate bar. "You forgot this."

Atsuko craved chocolate this week and Kai had remembered her chocolate bar of choice would be Dars. It wasn't expensive chocolate, but it was just the right type of milk chocolate that satisfied Atsuko's sweet tooth.

"Kaiii..." Ray grabbed at Kai's arm, pouting. "You said you'd buy me candy."

"Okay, okay." Kai threw Atsuko an apologetic smile. "Be right back."

Ray tugged Kai away from Atsuko, her eyes trained on Kai anxiously. Kai didn't notice since he was perusing the candies and was only pulled out of his silent ponderings about sweets when Ray called out to him again.

"Kai?"

"Hm?" Kai looked up into Ray's face and felt slightly alarmed at her expression. "What? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Um," Ray picked out a package of hi-chew, fidgetting with the candy anxiously. "Do you... do you like me?"

"What?" Kai quickly turned away from Ray, embarassed by that question. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because." Ray pouted. Even though she was sure, completely SURE that Kai and her were meant to be... the way Kai treated Atsuko, the way he smiled at her made her afraid. She didn't ever want to lose Kai. "Because I..." She dropped her voice to a barely audible whisper. "I like Kai a lot."

Ray reached out and caught Kai's hand, her eyes darting around to make sure nobody was watching. Nobody was. Kai was touched by Ray's feelings, knowing that they were sincere. But he just felt like... such an idiot. Ray didn't know what kind of person Kai was, didn't know who he REALLY was.

"I like you too." Kai replied, looking down at their joined hands. He was just about to add a 'but' to that statement but Atsuko dropping a few packages of chips down the aisle interrupted them.

"Here, let me help." Glad for the distraction, Kai trotted over to Atsuko, not noticing how happy he had just made Ray at the admission. Their exchange hadn't gone unnoticed, since Mariko was crouched down in the next aisle.

'That... that playboy!' Mariko thought angrily.

"What are you doing?"

"AH!" Mariko almost fell over, Kuu's sudden appearance surprising her.

"Getting candy." Mariko felt a stab of guilt again as they both stood up, but Kuu did so with a grimace of pain. "You okay?"

"Yeah yeah." Kuu almost jumped when he felt Mariko's hands on his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

"You don't have to act so surprised." Mariko scowled at the young man. "I'm giving you a massage."

"A deadly massage?" Kuu sniped, but relaxed into Mariko's hands. Surprisingly, Mariko's massages were excellent; just the right amount of pressure from her kneading hands. "Blaaeerghhh..."

"What the hell was that?" Mariko raised an eyebrow at the strange noise.

"It feels so gooooood," Kuu groaned. Mariko punched him in the shoulder then resumed her kneading.

"Don't make this weird or else I swear I'm going to knee you in the back."

"Yes, Mariko-sama." Kuu said meekly, putty in Mariko's expert hands.

"Shut up." Mariko grumbled. Everybody had their purchases ready, with Kai paying for everyone's.

"Thank you, Kai!" Everyone chorused.

"You're welcome, children." Kai said in a deep voice. Thank god Marilyn had given him their spending money for this week! He switched back to his normal voice, "We should go back soon. I just realized something: We left Riku and Yuko alone."

"Oh no!" Mariko, who had been massaging Kuu's shoulders the entire time exclaimed. They had all been so caught up in buying candy they had forgotten that responsible-Yuko could change into pervert-Yuko at any time! "Run back!"

Everybody started running for it, even Tomochin, Tomomi, Ray and Mayu, caught up in the urgency of the moment. They ran back to the hotel, went up the escalator and burst into the meeting room where they were practicing their scripts. Mariko and Atsuko were both relieved to see that Yuko was sitting there with Riku, looking quite innocent and hard at work. Riku, however, looked miserable.

"Are you alright?" Atsuko and Mariko surrounded Riku, missing Riku's look of warning.

"Why wouldn't he be?" Yuko snapped. She got up, gathering her stuff angrily. "Since all of you think I'm such a flake, maybe I should just take this opportunity to goof off. Cuz you know, that's what you guys expect!"

"Yuko-"

But the actress had already huffed off. Tomochin, Tomomi, Atsuko and Mariko all sighed in resignation while the boys, Ray and Mayu exchanged confused looks.

"What just happened?" Kuu was confused.

"Yuko's a bit of a work-a-holic and sometimes she gets like this." Mariko explained. "Just leave her alone for a bit and she'll be fine."

"You sure?" Riku was sitting there looking really sad. It was honestly quite cute.

"She'll be fine." Atsuko reassured. Riku still didn't look placated and Kai sighed. Reaching into their plastic bag full of treats, Kai pulled out a frozen popsicle and handed it to Riku.

"Go get her." Kai and Kuu waved goodbye to their defacto leader. Riku excused himself, gathered his stuff and was off.

"He's a nice guy." Tomomi said, impressed.

"One of these days, his 'niceness' is gonna get him in trouble." Kai muttered. Meanwhile, the tallest member of Persona headed to Yuko's room, his gift in hand. Knocking on the door politely, he waited, hearing footsteps. The door was pulled open and Yuko's sullen face looked out at him.

"What?"

"Here to discuss terms of surrender." Riku held out the popsicle. "A gift."

"Hmph." Yuko eyed Riku warily, then took the popsicle. He smiled at her. A step in the right direction.

"May I come in?"

Yuko just left the door open and wandering back inside, opening her treat and eating it. Riku took this as an invitation and walked in, closing the door behind him. He smiled at Yuko sitting on the only bed in the room.

"What can I do for Yuko to make her not angry at me?" Riku pondered out loud. The actress turned away from him, obviously trying to remain sullen and not smile, though her dimples were trying to betray her.

"Hmmm... should I buy her more popsicles?"

Yuko shook her head. Riku crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side.

"Should I get down on my knees and apologize?"

Yuko shook her head again.

"Then what should I do for Yuko? I would do anything to make her feel better!"

"This is enough." Yuko pulled Riku down to sit beside her and rested her head on Riku's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry for making you feel as if I don't think you're a hard worker." Riku watched Yuko eating her popsicle in amusement. Yuko did remind him of a little kid at the moment. "I didn't think you would take me seriously. I guess I need to work on my jokes-"

"No, it's not that. It's just," Yuko licked at her popsicle. "I've always been a really hard worker and I feel like people don't recognize that. They think 'oh, Oshima's just playing around', or 'oh, Oshima's not taking things seriously!' and I really resent that. Or they'll doubt that I could do something or you know, be good at whatever-"

Riku just put his arm around Yuko's shoulder and let her talk.

"Seriously, even when I was young and around the time my mom left us, it always pissed me off how people always thought maybe I needed help." Yuko muttered. "Cuz apparently, I'm lacking something when I'm FINE. My dad's fine and I'm fine."

This issue was apparently a deeply rooted one, so Riku decided to just not say anything and let Yuko grumble on about people thinking they're helping when they're really just PISSING HER OFF.

"Anyways, I feel better." Yuko had finished her popsicle and after she had finished ranting about people thinking she was some goddamned charity case. Riku had been quiet and listened which made Yuko feel really good. "Thanks!"

"No problem!" Riku replied brightly. He was really at a loss for words.

"So." Yuko looked at Riku curiously and the boy suddenly realized he was alone in Yuko's room with her again. He didn't make any sudden moves though, as Yuko had yet to do anything perverted and with how she was talking before... Riku didn't really know how to act. "You never told me why you're pretending to be a guy."

"I guess not." Riku mused. Yuko hadn't really questioned it so Riku hadn't brought it up. It was strange, though, how Yuko seemed to not care at all. And even now, she shrugged, oozing off a happy-go-lucky air of indifference.

"Well. Whatever works for you!" Yuko grinned, cutting off anything Riku could've said to explain himself. "I'm behind you one-hundred-and-ten-percent, Nyan-nyan!" Yuko beamed up at Riku, completely serious.

"Well, I'm glad I have such an understanding girlfriend." Riku chuckled.

"I'm glad I have such a hot girlfriend!" Yuko leered at Riku, remembering quite well that even though Riku looked like a pretty boy, he was actually a pretty GIRL. It seemed that Yuko had also just realized they were alone. "Hey, so were you serious before? About doing ANYTHING to make me feel better?"

"Within reason." Riku was... wary.

"Can I touch your bare boobs-"

"NO." Riku narrowed her eyes at Yuko as she started whining.

"Nyan-nyan! The whole point of dating is we get to fool around!" Yuko was in salesman mode and was earnestly trying to convince Riku of the perks that came with being a couple. Yuko was fully taking advantage of an infinitely more naive Riku. "And you already let me touch them last night when you were being naughty!"

"Really?" Riku asked dubiously, mortified. Did being in a relationship really mean they fooled around a lot? Riku just thought that he had to make money to take care of his girlfriend, treat her like a queen and buy her nice things... well, he did know they were supposed to go on dates and kiss and hug and stuff... he really needed to research this. Riku always knew what the girl expected of her boyfriend and was trying to fulfill that role, but never knew what the boyfriend expected from a relationship...

"Nyan-nyan, you don't want me to be unhappy, do you?" Yuko batted her eyelashes at Riku, wondering how far she could push it and exactly when Riku would clue in to Yuko's deception on her 'defilement'. The wily actress decided to switch to guilt tactics. "I mean, you've already had all of me... and now it's like you don't want me anymore."

"No! Nononono," Riku, blushing furiously, grabbed Yuko's hands. "It's just... I was really drunk at the time and it's not how I usually act. I'm usually not so... aggressive. I want us to have like a normal relationship."

Yuko looked at the shy Riku in wonder. He was just so cute she could totally eat him up!

"I want us to date, you know. I don't wanna be like just," Riku's voice lowered to an embarassed whisper. "Just be DOING it with you all the time! I don't even know how!"

"I could teach you-"

"Yuko." Riku growled. Yuko gave Riku a disarming dimpled smile.

"So? What do you want to do?" Yuko liked laying her head on Riku's shoulder. She had a few boyfriends before, but most times all they wanted to do was the down and dirty. They were dumped pretty fast when Yuko figured out all they wanted was to make her a notch on their belt. Riku was different. Of course, Riku was really a girl named Asahi so he WOULD be different.

"I want to take you out to dinner." Riku smiled at Yuko, hesitantly resting his head on top of hers in a truly 'awwww' moment. "Then maybe we can take in the sights? Unless you want to do something else?"

Yuko was quickly forgetting that they were playing at boyfriend and girlfriend. Riku was just so kind and so thoughtful...

"Why don't you surprise me?" Yuko said impishly.

Riku nodded, the wheels turning in his head. "Okay. Then... maybe we'll get some time tomorrow night. I'll pick you up when we're done work!"

'Maybe I'm taking this too far?' Yuko thought wistfully. Was this how high school romances played out? As she pondered her relationship with Riku, Yuko's hand trailed up to Riku's chest unconsciously. Riku, however, noticed and promptly slapped Yuko's hand away.

"That hurt!" Yuko complained tearfully. "And I'm right, you DON'T want to touch me! You've already had me and now the thrill is gone!"

"I didn't hit you that hard." Riku grabbed Yuko's hand, inspecting it patiently as Yuko continued giving Riku sad-face and crocodile tears. "Your hand's not even red."

"My feelings are hurt." Yuko sniffled fakely. "I can't believe you'd hit me."

"Here," Riku brought Yuko's hands up to his lips and kissed both of them softly, looking up at Yuko through his long eyelashes. "Better?"

Yuko, unfazable perverted Yuko, was blushing to the roots of her hair.

* * *

After spending some more time going over the script, they had all decided to turn in for the night. There was a bit of a problem though, when Ray tried to exit on the same floor as Persona.

"You don't have to walk me to my room," Kai said politely. "I can get there myself."

"Silly, I'm on the same floor!" Ray giggled.

"What?" Everybody exclaimed in surprise.

"I'm in the room next to my Kai." Ray giggled, grabbing Kai's arm. Mariko, meanwhile, was fuming quietly behind the two. Atsuko remained quiet, unsure of what to do. Everybody seemed to be looking at her, wondering what she would do.

"Um, good night." Atsuko said weakly.

"Night, Acchan." Kai replied, smiling at his friend. Ray ignored Atsuko and continued hanging on to Kai's arm posessively as everyone on that floor exited the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, Mariko turned to Atsuko angrily.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Mariko asked, upset at Atsuko's silence. It was just the two of them here now.

"What do you want me to say?" Atsuko asked quietly. "We're supposed to be a secret. I can't get jealous when Ray's all over Kai."

Mariko wasn't giving up that easily. "But HE could do something, right?"

"Well, he has to act natural, right?" Atsuko found herself answering all of Mariko's questions calmly. The elevator opened on their floor and they got out. "I mean, back at home, Ray was all over him there too, wasn't she? It'd be weird if all of a sudden he wasn't being nice to her."

"He doesn't have to make excuses, seems you've gotten them all down for him." Mariko grumbled. "But seriously, Atsuko. Is that okay? That he's sorta just letting people hang all over him? You're fine with that?"

Atsuko just didn't know what to think. Ray's words kept bouncing around in her head... what WAS her problem?

"Even if I'm not, what can I do?" Atsuko shrugged.

"Just cut him off." They stopped in front of Yuko's door.

"No." Atsuko's answer was immediate.

Mariko looked at Atsuko in awe. "Oh my god. You're totally in love!"

"I'm not!" Atsuko protested, blushing hotly. To change the subject, Atsuko knocked on Yuko's door loudly. They could hear the sound of someone coming to the door before the door was opened by Yuko.

"Yo!" Yuko greeted them cheerfully.

"Where is he?" Mariko asked, straight to the point.

"Gone back to his room!" Yuko answered.

"Really?" Atsuko asked doubtfully. She and Mariko exchanged looks, then they both walked into Yuko's room, pushing the smile-y woman in with them and shutting the door. Mariko and Atsuko looked in the bathroom, in the closet, under the bed, even behind the drapes. There seemed to be no signs of Riku.

"See?" Yuko was on the bed, grinning at the two girls.

Mariko took one more quick look around and sighed. "We're sorry we doubted you."

"That's fine," Yuko waved away the apology. "But I have favour I need to ask you guys."

"What do you need?" Atsuko jumped on the bed next to Yuko while Mariko sat down on Yuko's other side.

"Well," Yuko fidgetted nervously. "I need help breaking up with Riku."

"What?" Atsuko and Mariko hadn't expected that.

"He's just too perfect!" Yuko wailed. "I don't know how to tell him that he didn't do what he thought he did last night!"

"That's all your fault." Mariko lay down on the bed. "You were lying to him the entire time and I told you it'll just end in tears. Now, I feel like you should just keep lying to him and stay with him."

"Mariko!" Atsuko said, scandalized.

Mariko shrugged. "Well, Yuko said he was perfect. And he seems to really care about her, a real upstanding kind of guy. Can't say too much about his friend, though-"

"You leave Kai out of this." Atsuko growled.

"Okay, focus, focus!" Yuko clapped her hands. "What am I gonna do? He's taking this so seriously, I can't date him!"

"Just tell him you want to break up, then!"

"I can't do that!" Yuko pouted. "It'll hurt his feelings."

Mariko let out a frustrated sound. "See, the Yuko I knew wouldn't think twice of dropping someone. You obviously like him, he's not like those idiots you dated before. Why don't you just stick with him?"

"I..." Yuko struggled with her own feelings. Even though Riku was the perfect guy, Yuko was aware that he had too nice of a rack to be a guy. Riku was a girl named Asahi... and all Yuko wanted to do was touch Asahi and be around her Nyan-nyan all the time. But because they were sorta going out now, it was weird to do those things without feeling really... weird! Like there were expectations and stuff! And the way her Nyan-nyan was so nice to her was making her feel funny. "It's just... damn it, it's just weird for me, okay?"

"Well what are you going to do? You won't break up with him but you want to break up..." Atsuko placed a finger on her chin in thought. "So you want him to break up with you?"

"Bingo!" Yuko patted Atsuko on the head. "I always knew you were the smart one!"

"So you want us to help think of ways to get him to break up with you?" Mariko rubbed her chin in thought. "Well, I'm sure with time he'll break up with you, I mean, your personality and character sucks-"

Yuko threw a pillow in Mariko's face.

"I don't think he will." Yuko sighed. "He wants to take responsibility and stuff for defiling me."

"You should be the one taking responsibility." Mariko threw the pillow back at Yuko, hitting her square in the face. "Poor guy. What a lie. You're the defiler."

"So why don't we point out all your bad points?" Atsuko suggested. "Maybe he'll get so repelled by you, he'll break up with you!"

"Bad points?" Yuko let out a loud laugh. "I have none! I'm PERFECT."

"You're an idiot." Mariko started her list. "That's one. Two: Your breath stinks in the morning. Three: You have way too much bath products-"

"That was only after drinking that ONE time." Yuko said self-consciously. "And the bath products-all guys want their girls to smell good!"

"Why don't you just be ridiculously unattractive? Like burp and fart in front of him?" Mariko suggested.

"Ew." Yuko and Atsuko both pulled a face.

"Come on, you want to get rid of him? Do it." Mariko closed her eyes. She was tired. Atsuko was looking at Yuko curiously, wondering if she should ask. If Yuko actually managed to take off Riku's clothes, then Yuko knew Persona's secret too, right?

'Better ask Nami first.' Atsuko thought quickly and got up.

"Where you going? We're not done thinking of how to get Riku to break up with me!" Yuko whined.

"You'll be fine." Atsuko smiled. "I just have to go do something."

"I hope that 'something' isn't Kai." Mariko deadpanned, her eyes still closed. "No sleepovers with boys!"

"Right, right." Atsuko rolled her eyes. Childishly, she poked Mariko's stomach, eliciting a squeal from the tall woman. "I'll see you girls tomorrow."

Atsuko used the stairs to go down to Kai's floor. Knocking on his door, she waited until... Kuu opened the door.

"Osu." Kuu looked comfortable in his sweats.

"Um..." Atsuko looked at the door number again. She was SURE she got the right-

"Acchan!" Kai's cheery voice floated out to her. Kuu waved her in and shut the door behind them. It seemed like all the boys were in Kai's room and the blonde himself was sitting on the floor in front of his bed with Ray attached to his arm, snoozing on his shoulder.

"What is she doing here?" Atsuko couldn't keep the hostility out of her voice.

"She invaded my room." Kai had to stop himself from shrugging, remembering that Ray was resting on his shoulder. "I had to call the guys in."

"Yeah, so we're keeping Kai company and working." Riku was on the bed, going over his script.

"Wanna join me?" Kai patted the empty spot on his right. Atsuko sat down and not to be outdone, rested her head on Kai's other shoulder to look at the script with the blonde since Atsuko hadn't brought hers.

"Aw, aren't you three so cute!" Kuu whipped his cellphone out and quickly snapped a shot of the three of them. Ray frowned at the flash from Kuu's camera and snuggled into Kai's shoulder, mumbling sleepily.

"Shhh!" Kai hissed. "If Ray wakes up, we won't get any work done!"

They went back to quietly going over their scripts, Atsuko on Kai's shoulder on one side and Ray sleeping quietly on the other.

"She looks really peaceful, doesn't she?" Kai glanced over at Ray's sleeping face and chuckled softly. "I don't see this face often."

"You're pretty close with her, hm?" Atsuko pinched Kai's thigh.

"Itai!" Kai hissed. "What was that for?"

"For being a jerk-face." Atsuko muttered.

"What?" Kai was confused. Atsuko sighed, grabbing a pencil nearby and a notepad with the hotel logo on it. Even though she knew the rest of Persona probably knew what was going on, Atsuko didn't want to have an argument in front of them or risk waking Ray up.

_My friends think we're secretly dating_ Atsuko scribbled down furiously and showed it to Kai.

"Right?" Atsuko asked. Kai nodded, wondering what Atsuko was getting at.

_they're not happy that Ray is all over u and u're doing nothing_

Kai read over that sentence, thinking, thinking... and then it was like a light bulb turned on behind his eyes. He took the notepad from Atsuko and scribbled something down.

_I'm sorry, I totally didn't think_

"No, you didn't." Atsuko said crisply. She took the pieces of paper they had written on and tore it apart.

"Sorry, I'll do better." Kai sighed, knowing he had messed up. Mariko and Yuko probably thought he was some kind of untrustworthy guy. And thinking back to the day's events with the day at the beach and how they were looking at him, he truly realized now why they had been so angry at him. It was so frickin' hard, being in a pretend relationship!

"Just try." Atsuko smiled up at Kai, knowing he would. Maybe this was it. This was why she was so upset, because her pride was taking a beating with Ray around taking up Kai's time when he was supposed to be her boyfriend. But Atsuko had a sneaking suspicion that the fake relationship dynamics wasn't what was troubling her... it was her real relationship with Nami that was causing all this turmoil.

'If I don't think about it, it'll be alright.' Atsuko looked up at Kai who was seriously studying his script. Feeling Atsuko's eyes on her, Kai knocked his head against hers.

"Itai." Atsuko stuck out her lower lip.

* * *

endnote: well, that went nowhere, right? hahahaa This whole Okinawa trip is gonna take FOREVER. Why won't it end?


	15. Chapter 15

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 15

author's note: Took a while, but it's finally out. Okinawa arc is lasting forever :P But I'm ending it soon and beginning another one that also ain't in the canon storyline. Love it or leave it alone? Tell me, I love love love! your reviews.

* * *

Ohori Megumi watched two of her talents sleeping peacefully in the same bed. Yuko was sprawled out, seemingly trying to take up as much of the bed as possible, a blanket covering her stomach. Mariko was curled up around a pillow on a corner of the bed, wrapped in the bed's sheets like she was inside a coccoon.

Megumi stood there watching them for a few more seconds then took a deep breath, belting out the next words.

"WAAAAKE UP!"

"AHHH!" Mariko and Yuko both bolted awake, Yuko jumping on the bed, striking a fighting stance, her heart racing. Mariko was still screaming and struggling to get out of the coccoon she had made for herself and unfortunately, wasn't as coordinated as Yuko. The tall model rolled off the bed and hit the floor with a huge thud.

"Ita-ta-ta..." Mariko groaned in pain.

"Good morning." Megumi glowered at them, resplendant in sexy business attire which consisted of a short pencil skirt and a top that left little to the imagination. Even in her sexy attire though, Megumi struck fear in the hearts of her talents when they looked at her. Their manager was NOT happy with them.

Megumi's words were low and clipped. "I went to your room, Mariko-sama and you weren't there. I went to Atsuko's room and SHE wasn't there. Thank god I found Yuko in her room and you here too. The only person missing is Atsuko. Where is she?"

"Um..." Mariko and Yuko shared a quick look of panic, which wasn't lost on Megumi. The president of Ohori Productions narrowed her eyes at the two girls, knowing that they KNEW something.

"Where is she?"

"We don't know." They both said carefully, after another meaning-laden look. Megumi stared at them, then brought out her cellphone, calling Atsuko on speed-dial. A few seconds later, they could all hear Atsuko's voice, loud and clear in the silence of the room.

"Hello?"

"Atsuko-chan, where are you?" Megumi's voice was sugary sweet.

"I'm in my room." Atsuko sounded puzzled. "Are you looking for me?"

"Sweetie, I looked in your room before and there was no-one there!" Megumi cooed.

"Oh." Atsuko paused. "You probably came when I was downstairs. There were muffins! Do you want some?"

"Oh." Megumi was an expert bullshit sniffer and even though Atsuko had a very good poker-face, the manager knew that the actress was probably telling the truth. "We're in Yuko's room, come here, we're having a meeting."

"Okay."

Megumi hung up and paced the room, waiting for Atsuko while Yuko and Mariko let out a sigh of relief. Atsuko hadn't been in Kai's room. Thank god. There was silence as they all waited, finally hearing a knock on the door. Mariko, who had gotten untangled, hurried to answer the door.

"Goo'oning!" Atsuko sounded muffled, like there was something in her mouth, but pretty cheerful. She entered the room, brandishing two muffins in each hand and one in her mouth. "I rot'uhins!"

"I have no idea what you're saying." Mariko said as Atsuko gave her a muffin.

Handing the breakfast food out to the rest of the women in the room, Atsuko clearly wasn't reading the tense atmosphere well. Sitting down on the bed with a muffin in both hands, she ate happily.

"It has come to my attention that you three are becoming really good friends with Persona." Megumi crossed her arms across her chest. "Some of you are becoming TOO close to the boys. I'm sure you all know which of you girls I'm talking about."

"Yeah." Mariko shot looks at Atsuko and Yuko who had grown pale and looked very nervous indeed. "Way too close."

"Hmph. Mariko-sama, what do you have to say for yourself?" Megumi glared at the tall model.

"Well, I just want to say I told them so but noooo-"

"I'm talking about YOU, Mariko-sama." Megumi glowered at Mariko as the short-haired woman gaped at Megumi in disbelief.

"ME?" Mariko sputtered. Yuko and Atsuko both tried to hide their snickering but were unsuccessful.

"Yes, YOU. And Kuu."

"ME AND *KUU*?"

At first, the shock from the statement struck everyone silent. Then Atsuko and Yuko couldn't take it anymore as they burst out laughing.

"Me and KUU?" Mariko was completely flabbergasted. They felt nothing for each other except antagonism!

"If you needed 'company', you could've told me, I would've helped you handle it." Megumi was speaking in a calm, soothing voice now, as if speaking to a young child. "I was out last night and I saw you touching Kuu in the convenience store. Are you lonely? Do you want me to come to your room at night-"

"I will end you if you touch me." Mariko narrowed her eyes at her manager.

Megumi continued speaking as if she hadn't heard Mariko. "Has he touched your bare skin yet? You know, you should be careful, because if you get pregnant, you won't be able to work anymore. But with me, it'll be safe, you know?"

"Don't... ew... don't put that image into my head." Mariko shuddered. Kuu touching her? EW EW EW EW EW EW EW!

"And I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy giving you pleasure." Megumi pressed her hands on her face, blushing a maidenly blush even though she was past the age for anything 'maidenly'. Their manager was on a roll, not noticing the look of sheer disgust on Mariko's face. "It would be wonderful!"

"Shachou, why would you want to touch Mariko? I understand touching me and Atsuko," Yuko said mischeivously. "but Mariko? She has no curves-"

A pillow was whipped right into Yuko's face with deadly accuracy, taking down the woman with the dimples as Atsuko slapped the bed, hooting with laughter. The conversation just kept getting more and more awkward, though Yuko and Atsuko were finding it HILARIOUS. It was with great effort that Mariko finally pushed Megumi out the door, and when their shachou had finally left, Mariko rounded on her friends with a pillow in hand, laying it on them violently.

"Stop laughing, stop laughing!" Mariko screeched as the girls rolled around in the bed, howling with laughter.

"You and KUU?" Atsuko had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. Thank god she had wolfed down those muffins because if she didn't, Atsuko was sure she would've choked on them and died.

"Lies! Someone's spreading lies about me!" Mariko narrowed her eyes. She was going to KILL Kuu. Then, there would be no rumours! It didn't matter that she knew that Kuu would never spread these rumours but it just felt natural to immediately blame her some-times nemesis.

"Lies? Are you sure? Last night you were giving him a massage! Ooooo-" Yuko was cut off with another pillow to her face. Yuko lay there for a bit, playing dead, then sat up abruptly as something occurred to her. "How am I going to make Riku break up with me?"

"You're still on that?" Mariko rolled her eyes. "Just go and tell him you're breaking up with him!"

"But... but..." Yuko was torn. She liked Nyan-nyan, she truly did. But they were in a fake relationship and it had to end even though Riku was just the nicest guy she had ever dated. Which was weird, because Nyan-nyan wasn't really a guy and was a hot girl that Yuko really liked touching and being around. If they broke up, would Nyan-nyan still let her touch her? Well, even though they were going out now, Asahi STILL didn't let Yuko touch her... but that could change with time! ...touching up on Asahi all the time... liking it a bit too much... did that make her gay?

"Am I gay?" Yuko suddenly asked, hands holding her own head in confusion, looking very much like the pokemon Psyduck. "Mariko, am I gay?"

"What, why are you asking that? Why would you be gay?" Mariko asked, annoyed. "You're too stupid to be gay."

"I'm just so confused!" Yuko was still holding her head in her hands, but was now shaking her head furiously until Atsuko stopped her.

"It's okay. You'll figure it out." Atsuko could guess at Yuko's confusion. Maybe Yuko was confused because she was dating a boy who was really a girl. And Yuko was starting to LIKE the boy but knew that the boy was actually a girl. It could get confusing for anyone!

"Wait." Mariko suddenly looked at Yuko, a light bulb going off in her head. "You asking me about you being gay... and breaking up with Riku... it's connected, isn't it? And... this... this has to do with that girl you met at the beach, right?"

'Oh no.' That thought went through both Atsuko and Yuko's head. Mariko had figured it out!

"Are you breaking up with Riku to try to find that girl from the beach?" Mariko got up and smacked Yuko's thigh. "Stupid! That's so gay! And how will you find her?"

"No! No, that's not why I'm breaking up with Riku!" Yuko threw her hands up, exasperated. "The reason is... something else!"

"You're so gay." Mariko rolled her eyes. "I don't care anymore. Do what you want. I can't believe shachou thought... ew ew ew!"

'This whole thing is getting so complicated.' Atsuko thought glumly. 'How does Nami deal with this?'

* * *

'Obviously she's dealing really well and she totally didn't care about the talk we had last night.' Atsuko thought viciously as she heaped food on to her plate. They were having a hot breakfast buffet down in the main restaurant and Kai was missing. When Atsuko approached his friends to ask where the blonde was, Mayu, who had been sitting with the boys, cheerily told her Kai was taking breakfast with Ray. Atsuko had gone to sit with Mariko and Yuko then, grumpily eating her food.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Mariko asked, noticing that the blonde was missing from Persona's table.

"Eating with Ray." Atsuko said grumpily. Before Mariko could say anything though, aforementioned blonde had burst into the restaurant, looking around frantically. Seeing Atsuko, Yuko and Mariko together, he promptly headed towards them and sat down.

"Acchan, you invited me to breakfast this morning, right?" Kai smiled, a bright, panicked smile.

"I don't know." Atsuko replied snippily. "Did I?"

"You did!" Kai nodded, eyes pleading.

"Kai!" Ray had arrived at the entrance of the restaurant and was looking around for him. She had a little bento box in hand and a pretty pout on her face.

"Pleeeeease." Kai begged. "Just... cover for me."

Atsuko looked at Kai dubiously, then immediately pushed her plate of food in front of the blonde as Ray spotted them and headed over. Kai was wolfing down the food at an incredible rate that reeked of desperation when Ray arrived at the table.

"Good morning, sunshine." Mariko greeted sarcastically, eyeing the Diva.

"Kai!" Ray ignored Mariko, pouting at the blonde who was now choking down his food. "And I made you breakfast too!"

"Oh, that's too bad." Kai was a pretty good actor, looking like he was truly upset. "I just ate! I'm SOOOO full!"

Nami had woken up to Ray knocking at his door. The short girl had managed to wrap a towel around her head to fake just getting out of the shower and opened the door A CRACK with the chain on to find out what Ray wanted. When she found out Ray had made breakfast for Kai, Nami had panicked and said Atsuko and her friends had invited Kai to breakfast. Ray had turned on her heels, determined to get Kai his breakfast and force him to eat it. So Kai had dressed in record time and ran down to the restaurant.

"Soooo full." Kai rubbed his stomach, emphasizing how full he was.

Tomochin, who had noticed Kai running in and seen her friend run in after him, had wandered over to see what was going on. Seeing the dejected look on Ray's face, Tomochin glared at the blonde and pulled Ray away. "Come on, some people don't know how to appreciate others' efforts."  
Tomochin knew, from what Mayu had told her, that Ray had woken up extra early to make breakfast for Kai because Kai had stipulated that he needed a woman who knew how to cook. Tomochin knew of no better cook than Ray. And the songstress had spent a long time in the kitchen, perfecting the meal she had wanted to hand-feed Kai. It irked her to no end that Kai was rejecting such a delicious meal, why, he had no idea what he was missing!

"If he won't eat it, I will." Tomochin grumbled, dragging Ray to their table and salivating a little at the thought of Ray's cooking.

"But I made it for Kaiiii..." Ray whined.

"Shut up." Tomochin snapped and made Ray sit with her and Kasai. The writer was half-awake, never really good with mornings. With Tomochin beside her, Tomomi leaned over and snuggled her head on Tomochin's shoulder, mummbling sleepily. Kai watched them from his table, suddenly all the food he had just eaten felt like a large stone in his stomach. The sight of Ray's crestfallen face had completely killed his appetite.

"So what's up with you and Ray?" Yuko asked glancing from Kai, to Atsuko, to Ray sitting at another table.

"Nothing." Kai grumbled, stabbing at his food now. He pushed the plate back to Atsuko with a weak smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Even though Atsuko knew the situation and Kai had told her what was going on, it was hard to not think that SOMETHING was going on as Kai looked over at Ray's table again. But he HAD put her off, so that counted for something, right?

"Seems like the Diva might like you a lot." Mariko said perceptively and smirked at Kai, suddenly not feeling as hostile towards him since he seemed to be taking steps to shake Ray off his heels. But she was still cautious. "Seems like you don't quite feel the same."

"Yeah." Kai mummbled, not hungry anymore. He watched Atsuko eating for a bit and patted her back as she was wolfing down the rest of the food. "Slow down, it's not gonna run away."

Atsuko beamed at her 'boyfriend'. She was pretty happy now that Kai had snubbed the songstress and was sitting with her and her friends. In fact, all her friends were smiling at Kai as if he had done something great.

"Want something to drink?" Kai made to get up and looked around the table. "Ladies?"

"Orange juice!" Yuko chirped up.

"Coffee." Mariko nodded her thanks.

"Milk?" Atsuko looked up through her lashes at Kai. The blonde stroked Atsuko's head quickly in a fond gesture and walked off to where the drinks were. Beside the table was a large garbage bin and Ray was heading to it with the bento, not seeing Kai.

"Hey!" Kai stopped Ray from throwing the entire box in the garbage just in time, his hand on Ray's wrist alerting the Diva of his proximity. But unlike most other times, this time Ray didn't seem too happy.

"Kai..."

"Why are you throwing that away?" Kai asked even though he personally thought food that tasted that badly belonged in the garbage. "Didn't Tomochin want to eat that?"

"It's not for Tomochin." Ray said sullenly. "I made it for you so I don't want anyone else to eat it."

"Of all the-" Kai had to bite his tongue to stop himself from continuing what he was going to say when he saw that Ray looked really really sad. The food was horrible and every time he thought of that cake he had been forced to eat, his eye would twitch. But... she had made it for him. Kai gave a weary sigh. "You made this just for me?"

"Just for you." Ray said sullenly. "With all my love."

Kai shuddered and took the bento box from her, grabbing a fork from a pile set out for customers. Without looking at the meal, he mummbled a quick 'itadakimasu' and shovelled a few mouthfuls in, swallowing quickly to avoid tasting it but a sour/bitter taste still managed to linger. The inside of his cheeks was getting numb too...

"Here," Kai gave a little burp and handed the bento back to Ray, desperate for something to wash the taste away. "I can't eat all of it cuz I really am full... but thank you. It was ...really something else."

The look of sheer joy on Ray's face was breath-taking as she squealed almost soundlessly, putting the lid back on the breakfast bento and hugging it to her chest. Kai patted Ray's shoulder awkwardly.

"Don't make me any more food, okay?" Kai took this opportunity to say. "I mean, you're on vacation, so I want you to relax. And we have hotel food."

"It's not a bother at all!" Ray said, beside herself with happiness. Kai called her food 'something else'! She had really used all her skill, determined to make Kai the BEST breakfast EVER and it had paid off! "I want to make you breakfast every morning for this whole week, Kai!"

"NO!" Kai's exclamation was just a touch below a scream of horror. He tried to compose himself. "I mean, no. You don't have to. And you know, I worry about you. If you're going to use the hotel kitchen, you know, it's dangerous in there. And I don't want you to get hurt."

"You're worried about me?" Ray was in heaven. This was almost like a confession of love! Her shy shy Kai was just soooo sweet.

"Stupid." Kai was blushing again, he just knew it. "Anyways, just don't worry about it."

"Hm." Ray tapped a finger on her chin. "Fine. If you promise me one thing."

"Sure." Kai shrugged, not really thinking.

Ray smiled triumphantly. "You have to have breakfast with me everyday this week."

Kai rolled the idea around in his head a bit, then nodded. "Fine. I thought you were gonna ask for a kiss or something."

"And a kiss!" Ray quickly said, trying to move in for one. Kai already had his arms up in an 'X'. Kai made a buzzer sound like the ones on quiz shows when a guest got a question wrong.

"Kai only gives one wish. Now go eat breakfast."

Ray went back to her table relunctantly, bento still in hand but there was a definite bounce in her step.

"You didn't throw it away!" Tomochin exclaimed, then started begging. "Don't throw it away! Gimme!"  
"Here." Ray handed the box to Tomochin with a dreamy sigh.

"Kai?" Tomochin took the time to ask, before wrenching the lid of the box open to get at the food inside.

"Kaiiii... he's so good to me! I knew we were meant to be together! He definitely likes me!" Ray let out another happy sigh. Kasai, had beenl resting on Tomochin's shoulder despite the make-up artist's movements, now woke up to stare at Ray in confusion.

"What? I thought Kai liked A-"

"OH MY GOD, YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS!" Tomochin immediately shoved a piece of unidentifiable food into Kasai's mouth. The food was so horrible, the writer immediately started slapping her forehead, the mere taste of Ray's cooking sending sharp shooting pains across her cranium.

"It's good, huh?" Tomochin grinned as she continued eating, everybody at the table oblivious to Kasai's obvious distress. Meanwhile, Kai had made it back to his table with drinks on a tray, carefully passing the drinks to the Three Sisters' main actresses.

"Aw, aren't you chivalrous!" Yuko teased. "All you're missing is the armour and your horse!"

"Give me back that orange juice." Kai reached for it but Yuko held the juice away from Kai, grinning.

"Thank you." Atsuko took her drink and smiled at Kai, who sat down beside her again. Riku, Kuu and Mayu watched everything play out and from their vantage point, the little situation Kai had gotten himself in was more entertaining than TV. The little love triangle was pretty apparent to anyone looking for it.

"Does he just not know?" Mayu mused out loud.

"He's just stupid." Riku said bluntly. "He's a good guy, but stupid."

"Aw, we shouldn't say things like that about our friend." Kuu pointed out as they continued watching Kai. "But what is he doing? I mean, it looks like he's leading on both Ray and Atsuko!"

Riku watched the table, trying not to grin at Kai who seemed completely at ease with Atsuko. It was cute, really. The two reminded him of puppies, cute roly-poly puppies who were best friends! Mariko and Yuko laughing together loudly caught Riku's attention and his eyes drifted over to Yuko. The actress was definitely easy on the eyes... maybe that was why he had drunkenly forced himself on her. Oh god. He still felt like such a tool even though Yuko seemed alright with it.

'She's probably just being nice and telling me she's okay when she's not.' Riku thought glumly. Then he straightened his shoulders, determination steeling his resolve. 'I'm going to show her that Riku's not the type of guy to love'em and leave'em!'

"Hey, your boyfriend is looking at you." Mariko nudged Yuko. The actress turned around to wave at Riku excitedly, the young man returning the gesture.

"So you two aren't breaking up?" Mariko asked dryly. Yuko slapped a hand against her forehead.

"I completely forgot!" Yuko pressed her hands against the sides of her face, making the famous 'scream' face. "His cuteness is just overwhelming my ability to think!"

"Anything can overwhelm your ability to think." Mariko muttered. Out of nowhere, she pulled out two cans of pop. "Drink these."

Yuko did so cheerfully, not knowing why she had to but grateful. She did like soda. But pop did make her pretty gassy...

"Now if you wanna break up with him, you just have to be around him for a while while your body kicks out the extra gas." Mariko smirked. Yuko, who had already downed one can of pop put down the half-finished one she had been chugging.

"I don't like this plan." Yuko pouted. Usually burping around her friends was fine, because she didn't care. Looking unattractive in front of Riku was not part of the deal though; she hadn't liked that plan last night and she didn't like it now. She wanted to break up with Riku so he wasn't operating under the misconstrued idea that he had to because he thought they had slept together. This whole going out thing was crossing the line of fiction and right into reality because he was so serious... But she also didn't want to tell him that she had sorta not really told the truth about their night... because she really didn't want Asahi the hot girl to get mad and dislike her because then Yuko would get no touchy-feely time. Also, if Yuko appeared unattractive in front of Riku/Asahi... then touchy-feely time would also be cut short.

And through out all this, Yuko still didn't know... was she gay?

"What is she freaking out about?" Kai leaned over and whispered to Atsuko. Yuko was holding her head and shaking it back and forth, her inner turmoil driving her crazy.

Atsuko leaned in to whisper back. "Yuko wants to break up with Riku but still wants to hang out. Or something. I really don't know." Atsuko scrunched up her nose in confusion. "I really, really don't know."

"Aw, Riku just wants to make up for doing those bad things to your friend." Kai whispered back.

"Well, the thing is," Atsuko's eyes twinkled in merriment. "Actually, Riku didn't do anything. Yuko told us that he tried to, but he fell asleep and she decided to let him stay and sleep over."

"Oh, bad Yuko!" Kai grinned at Atsuko. It was a horrible thing to do to Riku though... the leader of Persona had been really stressing over this. "But I should really tell him-"

"No, you have to let Yuko do it." Mariko had been eavesdropping on Kai and Atsuko and stopped Kai in his tracks. Yuko had caught the tail-end of Kai's conversation and shook her head.

"No, this is perfect!" Yuko grabbed Kai's hand in hers, a pleading look on her face. "Please! Help a brother out! Explain everything to Riku for me!"

"Um-"

"No." Mariko shot Yuko a look. "You got into this mess, you should get out of it yourself. Seriously, Yuko, you're always just playing around and now finally someone takes you seriously and you-"

Mariko was interrupted by a huge belch from the dimple-cheeked actress that reverberated through the room.

"Ew." Mariko gagged at the smell, leaning away from Yuko.

"Woah." Kai blinked, catching a whiff of that. Yuko definitely had eggs for breakfast.

"See!" Yuko was almost in tears, mortified as she felt all eyes on her. "This is horrible! You're horrible!"

"I didn't put a gun to your head and force you to drink those sodas." Mariko replied dryly. "And, oh look, your boyfriend saw."

Yuko turned to see Riku with a look of shock on his face as he stared at Yuko.

"I'm ugly!" Yuko wailed, jumping up. "Don't look at me!"

Letting out another huge burp, Yuko ran out of the cafeteria. Everybody stared for a while, then went back to their meal, determined to forget that that just happened. After breakfast, everybody had to head out to the set to start filming. Before Kai could head off though, Ray had, like a ninja, whisked him off to some secluded corner to fuss at him.

"We're soooo going to get caught on camera." Kai whined as Ray held his hands, swinging them this way and that.

"Nope." Ray giggled. "I made sure."

Mayu, meanwhile, had assured Ray that her and Kai wouldn't be bothered and was good at what she did. Nobody passed by where Ray and Kai were hiding, not even hotel staff.

"Whatever." Kai rolled his eyes grumpily as Ray studied Kai's face in delight, happy that she had him in such close proximity. It was actually freaking the blonde out a bit. "What?"

"Just... you're gonna be working all day." Ray enveloped Kai's hands in her own, holding them up against her chest like they were some precious treasure. "I'm gonna miss you."

"It's only today." Kai pointed out, trying not to think how cute Ray was at this moment. "And I'll mail you, right?"

"Will you?" Ray brightened up. Kai couldn't help but smile at the tall Diva.

"Of course I will." Kai heard people asking for him in the distance. "I gotta go now. You're gonna be alright today?"

"Yes, I'm staying in to work." Ray nodded. Without Kai, she really didn't want to explore Okinawa... and she really wanted to work on her music. Since Kai's visit to the studio, Ray had been writing up a storm; the blonde having unleashed a flood of inspiration with his simple comments.

Kai reached up and patted Ray awkwardly on the head. "Don't work too hard, okay?"

"Mm-hmm." Ray was too delirious with joy to say a word. But she sobered up when she remembered something. "Kai..."

"Yes?"

"Don't get too close to Maeda, alright?" Ray said anxiously. The blonde raised an eyebrow at the singer.

"That's kinda impossible. She IS my co-star." Kai pointed out. Did Ray and Maeda not get along? Well, he knew Atsuko had a problem with Ray hanging around him all the time... so Ray had the same problem too. Well, one was his fake girlfriend and the other was his forced-girlfriend... how the hell did guys who deal with more than one girl? It was so hard!

"Try, at least." Ray pouted.

"No promises." Kai warned. When Ray gave him sad face again, he poked her cheek teasingly. "No frowns. Come on, I'm leaving for work. Can you give me a smile?" Ray blushed and smiled shyly at Kai and small man nodded approvingly, the next thing he said coming out quite accidentally. "I love Ray's smile, best."

Kai blushed as soon as he finished saying it and ran off. Ray was left standing there, feeling like she was floating on air. Seriously, she was floating... but she came back down hard to the ground when she noticed that Maeda stood in her way of following after Kai and squeezing out a promise to spend time with her as soon as he got off work.

"What do you want?" Ray crossed her arms and looked down her nose at Atsuko.

"I thought about what you said last night," Atsuko said, deliberately slow. "About how I should stay away from him. I don't think I'm going to do that."

Ray narrowed her eyes at Atsuko, waiting for the young starlet to continue.

"He's my friend." Atsuko said firmly, slowly gaining more conviction. She was NOT going to be bullied! "I'm not going to let some girl who likes him dictate whether or not I get to hang out with him. And if you're going to get in the way of our friendship, you better believe I'm going to have a problem with that."

"Friends?" Ray gave a small derisive laugh. "Seems to me you might like him a bit more than that."

"You can think what you want, but he's not your property and if you're thinking you can keep him all to yourself, maybe YOU should stay away from him." Atsuko said calmly. When Atsuko was with Nami, Nami made her feel... normal. Like she wasn't a star and she wasn't stressed. And all of this work was fun again, like it had been in the beginning. She wasn't going to just hand Nami over to Ray. Giving the charismatic Diva one more look, Atsuko turned on her heels and walked back towards her friends.

* * *

The first day of shooting went relatively smooth. All the actresses were doing their best and the boys sat back to quietly watch and wait for their turn. Kuu and Mariko shot their scene first, doing spectacularly well and improvising quite a bit. Yuko held her part down, her chemistry with Riku on screen was fantastic. Yuko was a great actress, professional and completely immersed in her role when she was on set. After her scenes were done though, she would run off and hide, burping miserably. The scenes with Atsuko and Kai were the ones everyone was concerned about... but those went perfectly too. Kasai and the director were nearly crying tears of joy.

Persona's first day working on a tv set was a learning experience. They were unsure at first, but their female co-stars helped them through it immensely. Even Kuu had to grudgingly thank Mariko when she gave him pointers as they worked on their acting together. It was a good day, really. The only thing that was weird was Yuko's burping. It seemed like she couldn't stop at all and looked quite upset. Riku had wanted to look after her and see what was wrong, but Yuko would always run away whenever he approached her.

"You okay?" Atsuko and Kai stuck together a bit more, using the excuse that it was required of them since they were going to become a couple on the drama series. For Atsuko, it was fun to have Kai with her, whispering funny things under his breath to her and just enjoying each other's company. However, she noticed that Kai would some times grimace and rub his stomach.

"I'm fine." Kai reassured. "Just... I think I'm getting a bad reaction to something I ate."

"Will you be okay?" Atsuko faced Kai worriedly. The blonde put on a brave face and smiled at Atsuko.

"It's fine. I'm pretty sure by the end of today I'll be good." Lied Kai. He knew he wasn't going to be good and knew that he was getting sick for being nice to Ray. God that was such a horrible breakfast! They sat around to look at the playbacks and did several more takes of scenes that the director thought might need a bit of work on, but it was a pretty quick day.

"And that's it for today!" The director grinned at the cast. "Thank you very much!"

"Otsukare!" The phrase was repeated by the staff and the cast, relieved that everything had gone so well.

"O-tsu-ka-re!" Kuu cheered, jumping on his two friends from behind.

"Ugh." Kai shrugged Kuu off, his two friends suddenly noticing that Kai was pretty pale underneath all his make-up.

"What's wrong? Are you sick?" Riku pressed a hand against Kai's forehead worriedly. He didn't have a fever...

"My stomach hurts." Kai grimaced. "I was feeling weird since I... ate something strange this morning. But now I'm really hurting."

"Come on, we'll get you back to the hotel." Kuu and Riku looped their arm in Kai and were going to carry him to the van when Tomochin stopped them.

"Where are you guys going? We have to take off your make-up." Tomochin crooked her fingers at them. The boys were sat in front of a mirror and given products and cotton pads to take off the make-up that had been applied to them for the shooting. By the time they were done, Kai looked green.

"Okay, that's enough." Riku grabbed Kai firmly by the shoulders and pushed him towards the van that would take them home. "Come on."

They jumped into the van and Kuu and Riku waited impatiently for everyone else to get in.

"What's wrong with Kai?" Mayu immediately noticed Kai curled up in his seat, looking quite unwell.

"He ate something bad. We have to get back to the hotel." Kuu informed, patting Kai worriedly. In the time Mayu had asked about Kai, the girls had come to the car and heard what was going on.

"We should go to the hospital." Mariko said worriedly.

"NO!" The boys of Persona and Atsuko shouted. Taking Kai to a hospital would mean filling out forms which required proper IDs which KAI DIDN'T HAVE!

"I mean," Atsuko recovered first, gracefully. "No. I can take care of him."

Without another word, Atsuko had gone to the back seat and was rubbing Kai's back gently. Everybody shrugged and got in, eager to get back to their hotel.

_Kai might have eaten something bad and he's sick. What should we do?_ Kuu sent the text off to Marilyn. A second later, he got a reply.

_We'll take care of it. See you boys back at the hotel!_

"Hm." Kuu slipped his phone back into his pocket, glancing over at the blonde worriedly. Kai had wriggled into a more comfortable position, resting his head on Maeda's shoulder with his eyes closed, while the actress murmurred soothingly to him. It didn't take long for them to get back to the hotel and as soon as they were out of the car, Marilyn and Saeko were there, ushering Kai away from the rest of the group.

"We'll take care of it!" Marilyn reassured the girls who were looking on worriedly. Riku and Kuu weren't just going to stand there and let the two 'L's haul their friend off, so they quickly raced after them with hurried good-byes to the girls.

Saeko herded them into the elevator and as soon as the doors shut, glared at Kai, trying to not show that she was worried. "So what did you eat?"

"Ray's..." Kai crouched down, holding on to his stomach. "..cooking."

"Oh." Riku and Kuu patted Kai's head sympathetically. They remembered that after Kai ate Ray's cake, he had lain in bed for quite some time, in pain from the food. The medicine they had found for stomachaches in the agency's kitchen medicine cabinet had helped a little, but barely. It was funny how Kuu had practically inhaled Ray's cake but was perfectly fine. After a night of rest, Kai was fine the next day, except he wasn't able to eat anything too heavy without feeling nauseous.

"The diva can't cook?" Marilyn was amused by this little tidbit. The elevator arrived at the boys' floor and they hurried him in to the room. A glass of water and some medicine for his stomach was prepared, Kai downing it quickly knowing the worst of the pain would go away once he ate the medicine. They were about to start undoing Kai's wig when the sound of someone pounding on the room's door caught their attention.

"Kai?" Ray's voice came through the door loud and clear. "Kai, open up!"

The people in the room exchanged glances. Saeko finally motioned for Kuu to go open the door, which the boy did. As soon as he did however, Ray had engulfed him in a big hug.

"Kai! I heard you were sick! Let me look at you-" Ray loosened the hold she had on the person in her arms to look at them. Seeing Kuu's face, she pushed him away. "You're not Kai!"

"Here." Kai crooked out, wanting to give Kuu a break.

"Kai!" Ray flew into the room, hands cupping Kai's face gently to tilt it this way and that. "What's wrong? Do you have a fever?"

She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against Kai's worriedly. The blonde backed up, the close proximity of the songstress making him blush while Saeko and Marilyn watched the scene with interest.

"I-I'm fine!" The palour of Kai's face said otherwise.

"Did you catch a cold?" Ray tried to grab at Kai again but the small blonde ducked behind Riku, pushing the taller young man forward to block Ray's advances.

"He ate something bad. Probably something in the morning." Kuu sing-songed, a little bit miffed that Ray had just pushed him away after hugging him. He liked hugs! He could've enjoyed a few more seconds of hugging!

"You did?" Ray asked hesitantly. "Um... was it because of... breakfast?"

Ray had just bumped into Tomochin, that was how she knew Kai was sick. Was it Ray's cooking that had gotten Kai sick? Tomochin had eaten Ray's food and SHE was fine. But then, Ray had heard some people call Tomochin 'iron stomach'... maybe Kai had a more delicate digestive system? Maybe her food had made him sick? He really seemed like he had been avoiding her right after she had told him she had made him breakfast that morning... was she a bad cook?

"It was something I ate at lunch." Kai lied. Everybody in the room shot the blonde an amused look while Ray looked relieved.

"Oh. Well, maybe I can make you some porridge to settle your stomach-"

"NO!" The boys screamed. Kai recovered first. "I mean, um, no thank you. I'm just not really hungry. I'm taking some medicine and then I'm going to bed."

"I'll stay here and keep you company!" Ray said brightly. Before Kai could reject her offer, there was a soft knocking on the door.

"Goddamn it-who is it?" Kai was really not up for more visitors.

"It's us." Atsuko's voice barely came through the hotel door. "Are you okay? Can we come in?"

"No-" Kai caught Ray's arm, interrupting the Diva from barring Atsuko and everyone else from the room.

"Yeah, hold on," Kai hollered back. "Kuu, can you get the door?"

Kuu went to open the door again, admitting Atsuko, Tomochin, Kasai and Mayu, but held up a hand to stop Mariko.

"Only people below the age of dinosaurs can come in. Idiotttt-" Mariko stepped on Kuu's foot as she entered the room, causing Kuu to hop around in pain.

"Well, I guess it's a party." Saeko said dryly. Everyone was crowding around the tiny blonde, trying to ask him how he was. Even in the bustle, Saeko didn't miss how Atsuko and Ray were glaring at each other. They both had a piece of Kai; Ray holding on to Kai's arm for dear life while Atsuko had grabbed at Kai's shirt sleeve, holding on loosely.

"What are you doing here?" Ray snapped, eyeing Atsuko like she wanted to bite her head off.

"Kai's my friend and co-worker," Atsuko's voice was even and quiet, but there was a hint of fire in her voice. "Why can't I come see him?"

"And why are YOU here, Ray-san?" Mariko crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the Diva. "This could be quite scandalous if people knew you were visiting this room at night."

"Ha." Ray scoffed, not letting go of Kai's arm. "My agency is the parent company of Kamonohashi Agency. Some times, I like to visit with young up-and-comers. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Oh nonono, I don't have any problems with that, Ray-san." Mariko replied sweetly. "But... you never used to do that! In fact, in the industry, it's a known fact that you're like a ghost to your kouhais!"

"Okay!" This was getting ugly and Marilyn stepped in to stop the girls from continuing their squabbling. "That's enough. I think it's time for everybody to leave."

"I'll stay and take care of Kai." Both Atsuko and Ray said at the same time.

"You must be tired." Ray bit out through gritted teeth. "You should go back to your room. Kai will be fine with me."

"No, I'm not tired at all." Atsuko said politely, but firmly. "Ray-san, you ARE on your vacation. And we wouldn't want Japan's number one selling artist get sick from staying up late and possibly ruining her voice."

While everyone was arguing, Riku sidled up to Mayu and nudged her discretely.

"Mayu, do you know where Yuko is?"

"She said she was staying in her room." Mayu replied.

Riku grinned and nodded, about to ask Mayu another question when Kuu shouting above the arguing girls caught his attention.

"ENOUGH!" Kuu's voice boomed around the room. "Okay, Kai is sick and you two should know better than to keep him from resting! I'LL take care of HIM!"

Kuu pinned Ray and Atsuko disapproving looks and the two felt slightly ashamed. Kai was sick and they really weren't helping him here.

"Both of you, go back to your room. All unnecessary people, OUT." Kuu ordered.

"Thanks for coming by." Kai said weakly. The small boy really wasn't feeling too well and having to try and stop Ray and Atsuko from fighting was taking a lot out of him. Mayu patted the blonde on the shoulder, wishing him a swift recovery. Kasai and Tomochin also wished Kai a swift recovery and left, dragging Ray along.

"Kai, get better soon!" Ray called out over her shoulder.

"I will." Kai smiled weakly at the Diva's retreating form. The songstress' obvious worry over him warmed Kai's heart... even if he would never admit to it.

"Seeya." Atsuko gave Kai a small apologetic smile. "Sorry, I just don't know what came over me."

"It's fine." Kai tried his best to smile back. "See you later, Acchan."

With everyone gone, the only people left were Saeko, Marilyn, Mariko and Kuu in Kai's room.

"Where'd Riku go?" Marilyn looked around, confused.

"The less people the better." Kuu said firmly. "And why are you still here?"

Mariko was sitting on the couch, tv remote in hand. "I'm bored. I'm going to stay here."

"It's fine," Kai was lying on the bed now. It felt lonely in the room without everybody in here... and the medicine was sort of helping. "You guys can stay."

"Okay, seems like you have everything under control." Saeko gave Kuu a thumbs-up. "Marilyn and I will go now!"

Kai breathed out a sigh of relief as their management team left. It was good that Persona didn't have Saeko or Marilyn looking over their shoulder the entire time. If Saeko and Marilyn knew the trouble they had gotten themselves in...

"So seriously." Mariko kept her eyes on the tv. "What's up with you and Ray?"

"So you just stayed here to interrogate him?" Kuu rolled his eyes in exasperation. "He's sick. This can't wait?"

"It can't wait." Mariko glared at Kai now. "Yuko and I want to know what are your intentions towards our friend. Atsuko's never been like this, you know? I've never seen her so into someone."

"She's not THAT into me." Kai blushed.

"She is." Mariko said seriously. "The Atsuko you see now is the Atsuko you'd only see with her friends. Not with strangers, definitely not with strangers who are guys. She's really into you and if you're two-timing her-"

"Kai's just dating Ray because our management told him to." Kuu interrupted.

"Kuu!"

"What?" Kuu shrugged. "It's true, our shachou would kill us if we piss off Ray again. So Ray wants to date Kai, how can Kai say no? This woman," Kuu nodded towards Mariko, "will not get off your back unless you explain this like that to her."

"So you ARE dating Ray." Mariko rolled the thought around in her head. It was their manager who told Kai to date Ray?

"Well... sorta..." Kai didn't know what to say. He was... but he didn't feel like he was? "I guess?"

"Do you like her?" Mariko pinned Kai with a look. The blonde squirmed uncomfortably for a bit.

"Well... um..." Kai didn't know why but he felt so guilty, the statement bringing up the image of a sullen and upset Ray."She's just my friend. I like her-but, um, not like THAT-I mean, you know... it's kinda weird, the two of us dating."

"Like your height difference?" Mariko raised an eyebrow.

"No, the fact that we both-" Kai stopped himself from almost blowing his cover. "-I mean... yes. Yes that's it."

"What about Atsuko?"

To Atsuko's friends, they WERE dating... so...

"I like Acchan." Kai said truthfully, feeling not quite as nervous. Maybe he didn't like the quiet actress the way Mariko was thinking of, but Kai definitely liked Maeda Atsuko. Acchan made him feel almost... normal. Atsuko treated Kai like she would treat Nami and it made her feel like things were okay. Mariko studied Kai for a few more moments, then nodded, sighing. Finally, a smile blossomed on her face and she stood up, getting ready to go.

"Well, I know how the industry can get so I understand. But just be more sensitive around Acchan. She gets hurt when you're around Ray, you know?" Mariko revealed.

Kai nodded. Atsuko's friends were just looking out for her, and Kai totally understood. He didn't want to embarrass Atsuko either... the actress was pretending to be his girlfriend and he was just causing problems for her.

"I'll do better." Kai got up to give Mariko a super polite bow. "I'm sorry that you girls have to worry about my intentions."

"Don't worry." Mariko gave him a thumbs up. "Good luck dealing with Ray!"

As soon as Mariko was out the door, Kai flopped back on to the bed, groaning.

"Does it hurt really bad?" Kuu asked sympathetically.

"Not as much as my head hurts from this crap." Kai muttered as he started viciously pulling out the bobby pins that held his wig in place. "Help out a bit, Hinata."

Kuu was at Kai's side, helping the blonde undo the wig until finally Nami could shake out her real hair freely.

"I'm gonna call it an early night." Nami grumbled. "Thanks for sticking around."

"No problem!" Kuu said cheerfully.

* * *

"Who's there?" Yuko asked when there was a knock at her door.

"Asahi!" Asahi's voice chirped up from the other side of the door. Yuko opened the door just a little bit, about to make up some excuse for not wanting to see Asahi... but stopped when she saw what the other girl was wearing. In a one-piece dress that went down to about her knees, high-heeled sandals, a nice lacey vest that went well with the dress, light make-up and her hair pinned up into a bun; Asahi looked ADORABLE.

"I guess I can come in?" Asahi giggled. It felt nice to be out of her Riku disguise and she walked into the room, hearing Yuko close the door behind her.

"You... what... WOW." Was all Yuko could manage to say.

"Here," Asahi brandished a little picnic basket she had brought along. "You were burping so much today and Mariko told me you had an upset stomach, so I thought we'd cancel going out and just have a date inside!"

"But..." Yuko winced at the thought of her non-stop burping the entire day. She was able to hold it in for filming, but as soon as the cameras stopped rolling, the gas would come up. It was only now that it had stopped. "Don't I disgust you?"

"Burping is a natural thing." Asahi stated firmly. "And no, you don't disgust me."

"Really?"

Asahi took Yuko's hand and lead her further into the room. "Really. Now come on, I bought some dessert! And we can watch a movie together, the hotel has a good selection."

Yuko sat on the bed watching Asahi carefully take out individually wrapped cakes and cups of pudding and lay the treats out on the table for her to choose. The excited look on Asahi's face made Yuko feel even more guilty about forcing Asahi to go out with her... but Yuko really didn't want this to end. This was really the nicest thing anybody she had ever dated had done for her. Getting up from the bed, she padded over quietly and surprised her Nyan-nyan with a hug from behind.

"What?" Asahi turned to try and look at Yuko, but the girl had her face pressed against Asahi's back.

"Thanks." Yuko was a bit ashamed to admit the next thing. "Nobody I've dated before has ever done something nice like this for me."

"Well," Asahi finally managed to turn around in Yuko's grasp and draped her arms on Yuko's shoulders. "This is the first time I've dated a girl so... I guess I don't really know what I'm doing? Should I be meaner?"

"No." Yuko chuckled. She picked up a piece of cake and help it up to Asahi. The taller girl took a tentative bite, blushing. "You're perfect just the way you are."

"Should you be eating all of that?" Asahi asked worriedly when Yuko took a big bite of the cake.

"Why shouldn't I?" Yuko had released her hold on Asahi and was chomping on the sweet dessert. It was delicious! Her Nyan-nyan had good taste!

"Well, maybe I shouldn't have brought up so many desserts in the first place... I should've thought of that, I'm such a bad girlfriend." Asahi mummbled to herself, not really answering Yuko's question.

"Hey," Yuko was licking her fingers clean now. "Why shouldn't I? Am I getting fat?"

"No," Asahi shook her head. "It's just that Mariko said you had explosive diarrhea too. So I'm worried maybe the cream might upset your stomach again."

"I do not have diarrhea." Yuko's eye twitched. She was so going to give Mariko a piece of her mind tomorrow!

* * *

endnote: sorry that took so long guys. :P Comments, criticism, 'hey, I wanna see so and so make out with so and so!' suggestions are all welcome, lol.


	16. Chapter 16

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 16

author's note: Well, language notes have completely died, right? I use Japanese rarely, trying not to have the flow of the script be interrupted since I'm writing in mostly English and the Japanese I do use are the ones that I feel sorta brings in something from the real show so all of you can visualize the scene better. And just to give y'all a heads up cuz a comment from a friend about this fic has brought this to my attention: y'all know this is a MENDOL fanfiction, right? lol. So everybody in the fic, even if they have the name of a real person and no matter how closely they resemble or how they absolutely don't resemble a person in real life is NOT the real person. Remember, I'm wielding one helluva creative license that I'm using to freely flesh out the Mendol world. hahaha. Just wanted to let you all know that and sweat a bit. ... I'm going to KILL THEM ALL! hahahaha!

* * *

Yuko woke up slowly, feeling really, REALLY good. It was still dark and she couldn't see a thing, her vision was blurry from sleep... what had woken her up? Frowning a bit, she could hear a voice talking in the background and... a bit of light. The TV. It was still on. Reaching behind her to the bedside table where she remembered she had put the remote, she found it and turned off the television. Closing her eyes, she snuggled closer to the body next to her and tried to go back to sleep.

'Body next to me...?' Yuko's eyes cracked opened again. In the dark, she could make out Asahi sleeping next to her, cradled in Yuko's arms. The movements Yuko had made jostled the taller woman a bit and Asahi frowned in her sleep, moving closer to Yuko.

'CRAP.' Yuko thought. So much for the 'no sleep-overs' rule. But they hadn't meant to make it a sleep-over at all! They had watched a movie and then talked and talked and talked... Asahi was just so-it was hard to describe. Perfect was a good word but it was MORE than that. Yuko found out that Asahi was quite serious, though slightly air-headed. She was surprisingly bright and mature, though most people might think the opposite. Her eagerness and determination to succeed as an idol and her innocent wish of making people happy and inspiring them really impressed Yuko. Asahi had a naivete about her that Yuko didn't see in people in this industry any more.

'I guess we fell asleep...' Yuko reached out a hand to trace the outline of Asahi's ear. The sleeping woman shook her head, frowning. The night had ended up with Yuko using Asahi as a sounding board, going through some of the ways Yuko wanted to play her character, talking about how Asahi and her character should act with each other... even talking about their private lives, which Yuko liked to steer clear of most times. Asahi had even mentioned maybe that she should take a day off to meet with Yuko's father and possibly Yuko's mother if it was alright.

'None of my past boyfriends wanted to meet my family, in fact they ducked out of it...' Yuko mused to herself. It was strange how Asahi was doing so much, making her feel like this was what a real, stable and serious relationship should be like. In a real relationship, the couple should be devoted to each other and no matter how much Yuko wanted to keep this as un-serious as possible, she found that she was slowly forging that bond with Asahi.

'But this is getting out of hand. I have a girlfriend who is taking this too seriously. And she thinks she HAS TO be with me.' That thought didn't make Yuko happy at all. In fact, it made her downright unhappy. She didn't want to break up with Asahi, but being like this, being happy... the thought that this person who made her so happy was only doing it because she was OBLIGATED to made Yuko really unhappy.

'Even though it's weird... I wish you were my girlfriend for real.' Yuko leaned over and kissed Asahi on the cheek softly. The touch of Yuko's lips on her skin woke Asahi up and she blinked in confusion, giving a truly languid stretch that pulled at Yuko's heart.

"Mmm... Yuko?" Asahi blinked and looked around in confusion. "We fell asleep?"

"Yeah." Yuko drawled out. "Maybe you should go back to your room?"

"Mmm..." Asahi was getting used to this. Except for the whole Yuko-wanting-groping-action part, Asahi really liked the snuggling and the talking. "Can we stay like this for a little while longer?"

Against her better judgement, Yuko nodded and drew Asahi closer to her, closing her eyes. "For a bit."

That bit turned out to be them over-sleeping. So much so that it was Asahi's cellphone and a knocking at the door that woke them up.

"SHIT!" Yuko cursed, jumping out of bed. Asahi was panicking slightly too as she saw the time on the bedside clock and noticed that she had several missed calls from Nami and Hinata.

"Yuko," Mariko called out, bored. "Come on, it's time for breakfast. What is going on... she's usually never this late."

Atsuko was apparently outside too. "Maybe she slept in. She wasn't feeling too well yesterday."

"She was feeling fine. She's just embarrassed because she was burp-y in front of her boyfriend."

Asahi pinned Yuko with an amused look as the shorter woman blushed.

"Shut up, guys!" Yuko called out. "I'm awake! Just go on without me!"

"Fine, but hurry up. We're leaving early today." Mariko and Atsuko's steps were fading away in the distance when all of a sudden, they heard Kuu's voice call out to them.

"Why are YOU here?" Mariko's voice was thick with disgust. "Ugh, it's too early to see your face."

"Right back'atcha." Kuu retorted. "Have you girls seen Riku?"

"Nope." Atsuko replied.

'OH NO.' Yuko and Asahi looked at each other, the same thought in their head.

"Riku's missing?" Mariko was instantly suspicious and Yuko could tell by the sound of her voice. "And Yuko's late..."

"Maybe he's already downstairs." Atsuko quickly suggested.

Yuko and Asahi could almost see Kuu nodding furiously, agreeing with Atsuko. "Yeah! Shoot, I'll just go downstairs and check!"

"Maybe we should check at the most likely place." Mariko's voice came back to Yuko's door. Then, a gentle knocking.

"Yuko, honey." Mariko's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Open up."

"Uh..." Yuko blinked, not knowing what to do. "I'm... naked! I'm naked!"

"You open up right this moment or else I'll call shachou." Mariko threatened.

Yuko looked around the room, desperately, then pointed to the bed. "Hide!"

Asahi dove back on to the bed, hiding under the sheets. Only when Yuko opened the door did it occur to the two that the bed was an awful place to be hiding. But it was too late as Mariko walked in, arms crossed looking around the room, her eyes settling on the lump hiding underneath the covers.

"I can SEE you, you know? Get out from under there." Mariko was not amused. Kuu and Atsuko had come in the room, closing the door behind them. This was NOT good. It was worse than they thought when it wasn't Riku, but Asahi who tentatively peeked out from under the covers to look at Mariko, sheets covering her body and only exposing her head. The short-haired model immediately exploded.

"A GIRL? You have a girl in your room?" Mariko's voice was barely above a hissed whisper but it was like she was shouting at Yuko as the actress winced. "I thought you were sleeping with you-know-who!"

"Riku was never in my room." Yuko said, pretty truthfully. The girl who pretended to be Riku was, but not Riku. Atsuko was pretty scandalized too, until she looked closer and recognized Riku, or Riku's female alter-ego, after a few seconds of scrutinization.

"AH!" Atsuko pointed and let out a little squeak. "YOU!"

"You know her?" Mariko rounded on Atsuko as Kuu tried to motion for Atsuko to SHUT UP behind Mariko's back.

"YOU!" Atsuko tried to cover for herself. "You, a girl! That I don't know at all and have never seen before! Where's Riku?"

"Yuko, you're really pushing it-" Mariko started again, only to be interrupted by Yuko.

"It'll be fine!" Yuko finally snapped, seeing how scared Asahi was. Sitting down next to the long-haired woman in her bed, she hugged Asahi close so Asahi was conveniently not facing Mariko. "If anything happens, I'll take the blame!"

"It's not that!" Mariko strode forward, caught up in arguing with Yuko. Kuu, worried that this might get physical, reached out to hold the tall woman back. "When did you get so careless? Sure, you would date but this is getting a little bit ridiculous, don't you think? You've never had guys in your room before! I'm pretty sure you've never had girls either-and even though I joked about it, I didn't really think you were really gay!"

"I'll have whoever I want in my room, WHEN I want." Yuko replied, her voice even, calm and dangerous. "Right now, I don't want you three in my room. Get out."

Mariko stood there for a second then threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Fine. Do what you want. It's not like you care about what happens to you, right? And I *must* be wrong to care about you and worry that this gay scandal might kill your future. You're such a jerk."

The tall woman was out of the room, followed quickly by Kuu and Atsuko.

"Yuko..." Asahi pushed away and met the other woman's gaze. "I.. I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Yuko caught Asahi's hands and squeezed them gently. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. But you just got into an argument with Mariko-sama-"

"I don't care." Yuko cut her off immediately. "Things will work out. She's just worrying over stupidness right now and I'll explain to her in a way that won't reveal anything about Riku. Don't worry."

But Asahi worried. She was just being a HORRIBLE GIRLFRIEND! Not only had she taken Yuko's innocence, but now Mariko was angry at Yuko! She had made the two friends fight! This was horrible!

"Are you sure you're okay?" Asahi asked again. Yuko didn't look okay and in fact, looked quite upset about her argument with Mariko. How could she make Yuko feel better? The answer actually came quite fast... but it was not an answer Asahi liked. But if she was supposed to be a good girlfriend, she should try to cheer up Yuko... right?

"Umm... if you want..." Asahi was having a really hard time getting the words out. "You can... touch them..."

The last part of Asahi's offer was squeaked out, but Yuko caught it quite clearly.

"REALLY?" Yuko's eyes lit up.

"Three seconds only."

"FIVE MINUTES!"

"You... you really don't know how this compromising thing works, eh?" Asahi sighed, face-palming.

"TWENTY MINUTES?"

"Five seconds. Take it or leave it." Asahi deadpanned.

"TEN SECONDS." Yuko tried to tone down the excitement and put on her best 'wounded' face. "For the hurt I feel."

"Fine." Asahi mummbled, completely taken in by Yuko's lying face, forgetting that the young woman with the dimples WAS an actress. Yuko reached forward, hands quavering, wide-eyed and crazed looking-

"Okay, I take that back." Asahi shielded her boobs with her hands. "You're being creepy, Yuko."

"As your girlfriend, I should get at least one squeeze a day!" Yuko whined. "I'm dyyyyying here, Asahi."

"I don't know why you're so fascinated by them since you have a pair of your own anyways." Asahi blushed and dropped her hands. Reverently, Yuko reached forward again-

"Iyyaaah!" Asahi got up again. "You're making that face again!"

"I'm not!" Yuko wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth. "No! Come on!"

"No, you're being weird. I'm going to get ready." Asahi got out of bed and headed towards the door, leaving a dejected Yuko behind. She was almost out the door before she back-tracked and came back into the room.

"Did you forget something-" Yuko was silenced by Asahi's lips pressing against Yuko's cheek in a brief kiss.

"Forgot my morning kiss. Talk to Mariko, okay?" Asahi blushed, then was out the door. Yuko was left standing there, slack-jawed. A few seconds later, she had fallen to her knees, a hand against her chest. It felt like her heart wanted to jump right out of her chest!

Carefully, Asahi made her way down the halls, thankful that nobody was in the hall to see her.

"Stairs, stairs, stairs..." Asahi went to the stairwell, opening the door and bumping into someone. "Oh, excuse me!"

"Don't worry about it." A cheerful voice replied. Asahi kept on going after another quick 'sorry', not looking up to see that it had been Mayu she had bumped into. Asahi also didn't notice that the young girl was watching her retreat with great interest.

When Riku finally came down for breakfast, he saw that Yuko was down there already, eating with Kasai and Tomochin. Mariko was sitting at a table with Kuu while Atsuko, Ray, Kai and Mayu were eating together at another table.

Kai shot Riku a look that said they would talk later. Kuu was frantically trying to discreetly wave Riku over to his table, desperate for some help with a morose-looking Mariko. He also had a plate of food prepared for Riku.

"Good morning." Riku greeted. Mariko looked up listlessly, then continued staring at her food and poking it around her plate.

"Hey," Riku tried again when Kuu nodded to Mariko again, signalling Riku to continue trying to talk to Mariko. "You alright?"

"She got into a fight with Yuko." Kuu started to explain since Mariko didn't seem like she was going to say anything.

"I didn't get into a fight with Yuko," Mariko stabbed at her food viciously. "She's a big stupid head who doesn't care about anything. Look what you made me do! I said I wasn't going to talk about it!"

"You're obviously upset," Kuu rolled his eyes. "Just stop being so proud, for once."

'Stupid head?' Riku blinked.

"Ooookay. Maybe you two should talk it out?" Riku tried to cheer Mariko up.

"I'm not going to talk to her, she should talk to me!" Mariko grumbled.

"Hey." Yuko had come up to the table, giving Riku a smile. Speak of the devil. "Can you guys give me some time alone with Mariko?"

"Mariko? Who the hell is that? Aren't I dead to you?" Mariko grumbled, deliberately not looking at Yuko. Kuu smacked Mariko's arm gently.

"Be nice and just talk to her. I'm sure she has a great explanation, RIGHT, Riku?" Kuu looked at Riku as if to say 'you owe US a good explanation too!'.

"What?" Riku blinked. Kuu just shook his head and dragged Riku off. Yuko stood there for a few seconds then sat down, waiting for Mariko to look at her. When she did, Yuko did the only thing she knew that would appease Mariko: she grovelled.

"I'm sorry!" Yuko was basically laying on the table, grovelling like a toad. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"

"Sorry for what?" Mariko raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.

"Sorry for being an asssssssss!" Yuko wailed.

"What is UP with you, Yuko?" Mariko shook her head. "You really are the most serious out of all of us when it comes to work; it's not like you to be careless like this or risk a scandal. I mean, remember when you were dating that one actor on that show?"

"Yeah, what's-his-name." Yuko grumbled.

"You dumped him as soon as he started to want to spend more time together." Mariko pointed out. "Now you're having sex with random girls-"

"We weren't having sex." Yuko replied heatedly, ready to defend Asahi's honour. "And she's not some random girl!"

"Oh-ho." Mariko raised an eyebrow. "Not having sex? Then why was she naked?"

"She was not naked!" Yuko protested. "She had her clothes on underneath the sheets!"

"Riiight. Like anyone would believe that. What is up with this? Aren't you worried about your career-"

"Of course I'm worried about my career." Yuko raked her fingers through her hair. "All I ever wanted since I was small was to be an actress. But I... I can't just not see her. I sorta really like her."

"Oh my god." Mariko shook her head. Her friend LIKED this girl? Yuko didn't LIKE people. She was interested in people, but after a while, that interest would die down and she would move on. "What about Riku?"

"What about Riku?" Yuko asked cautiously, wondering if Mariko had recognized Asahi.

"Are you going to keep dating him?"

"Oh. That." Yuko sighed in relief. "Well, why shouldn't I? I like him too!"

This was crazy. Yuko liking TWO people all of a sudden? "Isn't it a bit unfair to him? And to your random girl?"

"Oh yeah... and again, she's not some random!" Yuko was having a hard time seperating Asahi from Riku. They were one and the same, in her opinion. The cool and collected Riku and the shy and sweet Asahi. Mariko snapping her fingers in Yuko's face caught Yuko's attention.

"You're drooling."

Yuko wiped at her mouth. How was it possible for Asahi to render her completely catatonic all the time?

"Well, I'll deal with the two of them later." Yuko assured Mariko. Breaking up with Riku meant breaking up with Asahi and Yuko was NOT going to be doing that. "But are we good?"

"You yelled at me." Mariko accused, eyes narrowed.

"I didn't!" Yuko protested. "I spoke in a very even tone."

"You were yelling at me with a soft voice." Mariko fixed her statement.

While the two tried to work things out their own weird way, Kai was having problems. Ray was constantly trying to feed him and Atsuko, not to be outdone, kept trying to keep Kai's attention on her at all times. If he paid attention to Ray, Atsuko was unhappy. If he paid attention to Atsuko, Ray was furious. So the best thing to do was...

"Mayu, so when are you going back to school?" Kai asked politely as he ate, ignoring Ray trying to feed him and Atsuko trying to draw him into another conversation that would piss Ray off.

"After the summer holidays." Mayu talked to Kai cheerfully.

"Do you like school?" Kai asked curiously, ducking away from Ray's fork and ignoring Atsuko whining out his name. "I was never a really good student myself..."

"I'm okay with it, I guess." Mayu chewed on a piece of honeydew thoughtfully. Kai and Mayu talked to each other while the blonde continued ignoring the two women vying for his attention. They talked to each other as if Atsuko and Ray weren't there until the ridiculousness of the situation sent Mayu into fits of giggles.

"What?" Kai asked self-consciously. "Is there something on my face?"

"No, I'm just amazed that Ray-san and Maeda-san are so nice to you." Mayu said slyly.

"Oh, well..." Kai glanced at the two ladies in question.

"I'm not really particularly nice to Kai," Atsuko said with a smile, the cover story she had for being so close to Kai already in place. "He's my romantic interest in the drama; being near Kai in real life helps build our chemistry."

"You need to stop building it." Ray snapped, already not pleased to be sharing the breakfast table with Atsuko. When Kai had promised to have breakfast with her every morning, she had totally meant breakfast ALONE! And preferably in bed!

"Oh, but if we don't, we won't be believable on set!" Atsuko said innocently.

"You don't have to be believable!" Ray was ready to jump Atsuko and tear the other woman's eyes out. Kai's hand on her thigh stopped her though and all the irritation and anger drained away from the Diva's tall frame.

"It's okay, Ray." Kai said soothingly. His other hand had caught Atsuko's hand under the table to still any kind of retort to Ray. This was crazy! He couldn't keep this up! Why did the powers that be hate him? Was it because he was a cross-dresser? Was that why? If only someone would save him!

"Kai! What are you doing?" Kuu came up to Kai's table to scowl at the blonde with Riku in tow. "Come on! Secret meeting!"

"Secret meeting! Bye girls!" Kai was off like a shot, mouthing a heartfelt 'thank you' to Kuu and Riku silently. When Ray and Atsuko got up to follow, Riku, immediately made a big 'x' with his arms.

"No girls allowed!" Then three-man band ran off, ducking into the men's washroom and locking the door. Making sure no-one was in the stalls, they regrouped in the middle of the room in front of the wash basins.

"WHAT THE HELL?" They all screamed together.

"Why the hell are women so difficult!" Kai complained.

"Why is it so hard to have a girlfriend?" Riku was frustrated.

"Why were you naked in Yuko's room?" Kuu asked.

"Yeah," Kai forgot about his problems for a moment. "Kuu told me you were in Yuko's room AGAIN."

"I wasn't naked." Riku pouted. "I had my clothes on underneath the blanket."

"Pshaw. Like anybody'll believe that." Kuu rolled his eyes. "You guys are all love-love, aren't you?"

"I'm taking responsibility!" Riku protested.

"But you should watch it." Kai folded his arms across his chest. "If shachou or Marilyn finds out, you'll get in trouble. I really think you should break up with her."

"How come you can date Ray but I can't date Yuko?" Riku sulked.

"I'm not dating her." Kai growled. "I'm appeasing her. Two TOTALLY different things."

"Plus, Kamonohashi Agency is an off-shoot of Monkey Pro." Kuu reminded. "And Ray, the charismatic Diva, is their top-selling artist in all of Japan right now. If Ray is unhappy and tells Sarukawa-shachou, then Sarukawa-shachou will be unhappy with Kamonohashi Agency. But most importantly, Saeko will whip Kai if he makes the Diva unhappy again."

Kai nodded. "Right. My 'relationship' with Ray is work-related. Yours isn't."

"Well, how come you can date Atsuko, too?" Riku pointed out another one of Kai's paramour.

"We're not really dating!" Kai replied. "Remember? We're fake-dating!"

"Whatever, fake-dating. You and your 'Acchan' are sooooo cute!" Kuu nudged Kai, grinning. "Look at you, you sly dog, you! Two girls after you!"

"Shut uppppp." Kai shuddered. "I hate L's!"

"You're like the poster-child for L." Riku joined in to tease Kai, forgetting about his situation for a moment. But only for a second. "Anyways, I gotta stick with Yuko. I mean, after sleeping with her-"

"Seriously, break up with her." Kai sighed. "Just-okay, look: It's not like you two actually slept together."

"...what?" Riku frowned, confused. "No. I did."

"No." Kai sighed, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. "You didn't. Acchan told me. Yuko just lied to you and told you something happened. Apparently, all you did was get really drunk and pass out in her bed."

Riku had developed a noticeable tic on his face and his fingers were twitching as if he wanted to wrap them around a certain somebody's neck.

"So all this time, I was worrying about NOTHING? I will KILL her! She was playing me all along!" Riku growled. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Well, Mariko said that Yuko needed to tell you herself-"

"So EVERYONE knew except me?" Riku rounded on Kuu. "Did you know too?"

"Hey, I just found out too!" Kuu raised his hands up to prevent an angry Riku from mauling him. Riku turned to Kai, who also raised his hands up in surrender.

"Don't kill the messenger! Just dump her now that you know." Kai took a step away from Riku. "Seriously, you have an easy out."

After a brief silence, Riku set his mouth in a grim line. "I'm going to talk to her first."

* * *

"What is UP with everybody?" Mariko mummbled as she looked around the set. Riku was being a lot more... intense. So much so that it was making Yuko nervous sometimes when he would invade her personal space. Kai and Atsuko were hot and cold with each other, the honeymoon period of their relationship obviously over. In Mariko's opinion, Kuu was the only one acting normally at the time.

"Hey, dinosaur. Stop staring at people." Kuu was sitting beside her, rocking back and forth in his chair. Mariko glared at the young man, then pushed him. Only by windmilling his arms crazily was he able to set his chair upright again. "I could've really hurt myself! You're evil!"

"Che." Mariko rolled her eyes and leaned over. "What the hell is going on with everyone?"

"Well, Kai and Atsuko's little relationship has a problem named Ray." Kuu summarized. "Riku now knows that he didn't really sleep with Yuko and is pretty pissed so he wants to get back at her-"

"Wait, what?" Mariko gasped. "How did he find out? How did YOU know?"

"Kai told us." Kuu shrugged. "This is getting stupid. Why is everything so complicated?"

Mariko sighed and slumped in her chair. "I don't know. And I'm wiping my hands clean of this mess."

"Me and you both." Kuu nodded. "This will only end in tears."

"Everyone looks so tense." Mariko and Kuu weren't the only ones making observations. Tomochin and Tomomi were watching the actors too and ever observant Tomomi noticed that the actors were acting weirdly. Kai and Atsuko were still quite compatible, but some times Atsuko would ignore Kai and the blonde would have to tease her to get her to open up again. Riku and Yuko were great, but there were several takes that had to be redone because Riku would get out of the shy-and-polite personality of his character and become really aggressive. Only Kuu and Mariko seemed normal, bickering with each other like usual.

"I don't know, don't ask me." Tomochin was also watching one of the couples, frowning at the way Kai was trying to get Atsuko's attention as she cutely ignored him. Tomochin didn't like how Kai was being so friendly towards Maeda. It rubbed her the wrong way that this dimunitive blonde had two attractive women hanging all over him and he was playing with both of them.

"Tomochin..." Tomomi had wrapped herself around her friend from behind, hugging the make-up artist tightly. "Relax. Don't be angry."

"I'm not angry." Tomochin growled. "I just don't like how he's being like this and Ray-bee and Atsuko-"

"Know exactly what they're in for." Kasai soothed the irrate woman. "It's better if we don't get involved. Like you said, Ray-san is head over heels for him and there's nothing you can say to stop her. It looks like Atsuko really likes Kai too." Tomomi didn't add that it seemed as if Kai reciprocated Atsuko's feelings; that would only make Tomomi more indignant for Ray.

"But-"

"If you're thinking he's happy about all of this, look at him." Tomochin nodded at Kai. "You can see he really doesn't want this. Poor guy."

Kai was looking tired and bewildered. Since this morning, Kasai had been watching Kai trying to keep Ray and Atsuko happy. Tomomi had seen plenty of guys just bask in the attention, but Kai was honestly just trying to make everyone happy. Kai might like Atsuko, but Tomomi didn't think he liked her any more than as a friend.

"Whatever." Tomochin grumped. Ray might be impossible some times and even with Tomochin, she might be... well, a huge itch with a capital 'B'. But Ray was still her friend. But... Tomomi was right.

"Okay, get off me." Tomochin shrugged off a pouting Tomomi. "I have to do Riku's make-up for the next scene."

"Meaaaanie!" Kasai whined, latching on to Tomochin again. "I'm tireeeed. And I don't know what you fed me yesterday, but I think I still feel the after-effects of it."

"The effects of sheer taste-bud popping goodness, you mean!" Tomochin scoffed. Really, Ray's cooking was awesome and she didn't appreciate Tomomi lying about Ray's cooking being horrible!

"I could get Riku-san ready for you, ma'am." Mayu appeared at Tomochin's elbow, an impish smile on her face.

"Tomochinnnn-"

"Get off!" The beautiful make-up artist growled. "Get off-oh, for the love of-Mayu, go get Riku ready!"

Mayu immediately herded Riku towards a chair to powder his face a bit to get rid of shine, watching in amusement as Riku's eyes never left Yuko's form.

"Are you okay?" Mayu queried.

"I'm fine." Riku growled. "Yuko..."

"Oshima-san?" Mayu glanced over at the actress who was talking to the director.

"I'm going to kill her." Riku said ominously.

"Oooookay." Mayu decided not to ask. Idols were an odd bunch. And especially this bunch. "Hold on Riku-san, let me just..."

Mayu produced a small cotton swab, poured some cleanser on it from a little bottle she had on her belt pouch and wiped down Riku's throat.

"There you go." Mayu smiled. "Your neck was a little bit oily too."

Riku took a break from glowering at Yuko to smile thankfully at Mayu. "Thanks, Mayu."

"You're welcome," Mayu watched Riku walk away and smiled again, a very different smile from last time as she looked ready to burst into laughter. But as she was on set, Mayu just settled for shoving her hands into the pockets of the red zip-up hoodie she was wearing today and all out grinning. "You're most very welcome."

"Alright! Everybody, places! We're shooting the next scene!" One of the PAs on set hollered. Staff bustled around to get everything ready while Yuko jumped in place, shaking out her nerves. In this scene, Riku's character, Nishida Ruki, has taken Yuko's character, Aki, out to dinner and dancing.

"You need to relax a bit," Yuko suggested to Riku. "You're tensing up a bit too much."

"Oh?" Riku's gaze was intense, his voice a low rumble. "Should I come to your room later and you can help me relax?"

The bold statement caused Yuko to blush solid red and she had to fan herself with her hands to cool down. What was up with Riku? She had felt his eyes on her since after breakfast, following her everywhere. And now... Yuko shivered as she caught his eye again. He made her feel like she was in the spotlight, the centre of attention. It was a really good feeling.

As Riku and Yuko acted out their part, Kai had his eyes closed, trying to rest a bit. With Atsuko and Ray always fighting with each other and the blonde having to intervene, it was draining on him. This was just so frustrating! He wanted both Atsuko and Ray to be happy, but it seemed impossible! His phone vibrating silently shook him out of his thoughts and he took it out irritably, knowing exactly who would message him.

_I miss you *crying face* when will you be back?_

_after work_

Kai replied quickly, declining to add anything more since he saw Atsuko looking at him surreptitiously from beside him. When Kai glanced over at Atsuko, the quiet actress kept her eyes on Riku and Yuko, declining to meet Kai's eye.

Atsuko knew she was making things harder for Kai, but she just couldn't help it. Ray's proprietory attitude when it came to Kai rubbed Atsuko the wrong way, it just really REALLY bothered her. Kai brought her peace of mind and gave her a confidence that she seemed to have lost recently... she wasn't willing to lose out to Ray. If the Diva wanted to monopolize all of Kai's time, she wouldn't stand for it!

"Annnnd, cut!" The director spoke in low voices with Kasai as the staff surged in to touch-up on the actors' make-up and costumes, except for Riku's and Yuko's who was done for the day.

"Our turn." Kai nudged Atsuko and stood up. He was in a pair of slip-on shoes, shorts, a light-coloured t-shirt paired with a short sleeved button-up shirt. Atsuko was decked in a pair of scandalously high cut-off jeans, sandals and a cute, sexy top with her hair done up.

"Okay, lets move." The director instructed. The next scene would be filmed outside on the boardwalk overlooking the beach. The timing was just right, with the sun just beginning it's descent making it a perfect setting for a romantic scene. Coincidentally, Kai and Atsuko's scene was a love scene and everybody involved in the production were nervous. Would Maeda Atsuko be able to do this? Would Kai be able to do it?

"Nervous?" Kai grinned at Atsuko, trying to hide his own nerves. They leaned against the wooden rail of the boardwalk, looking out on the beach. The area had already been set up, ready and waiting for the director to move his people, while some staff stayed behind to dismantle Riku and Yuko's set.

"I'll be okay as long as you're here." Atsuko smiled at the blonde and he reached out to squeeze her forearm reassuringly.

"Ready?" Mayu was by their side with Tomochin, who immediately set to work on Atsuko's make-up and hair, making sure that she did all the little things possible to make Atsuko more beautiful on camera. Mayu worked on Kai, since his make-up wouldn't be as intense as Atsuko's and required less skill to touch-up.

"Okay," Mayu powdered his nose, going over his neck a bit. "We're done."

"Thanks, Mayu." Kai rubbed the girl's hoodied head. She pouted at him and he chuckled, the pout making Mayu look her age. "You're a good kid."

"I'm not a kid!" Mayu complained.

"Is what kids usually say." Atsuko smiled fondly at the two.

"I don't want to help these two anymore," Mayu joked with Tomochin.

"Sometimes you have to work with people you don't like." Tomochin replied, shrugging. She wasn't joking, though. Right now, she really didn't want to be working with Kai. The blonde was going to make her friends cry and she really didn't like it.

"Thanks, Tomochin." Atsuko smiled at the make-up artist as she finished touching up Atsuko's make-up.

"Break a leg, Atsuko." Itano Tomomi grinned at her friend.

"Okay, everybody knows what happens in this scene, right?" The director's voice cut through the chatter and everybody listened attentively. "But we wanna incorporate a slight change that both Kasai-san and I think would give this scene more emphasis. Kasai-san?"

"Thanks!" Kasai said brightly before sort of floating to the middle of the set. "Sorry I'm changing this a bit, but this will only effect our two main actors in this scene," Tomomi turned to Kai and Atsuko, grinning. "I want to include a kiss into this scene."

There was silence, then someone on set started hooting while someone else started cat-calling. Before long, Kai and Atsuko stood there red-faced as it seemed everyone on set had something to say about this kiss. Kasai had approached Atsuko and Kai, giving them quick instructions while they looked at each other awkwardly.

Riku and Yuko opted to go home first, ahead of everyone else. Mariko and Kuu were finished filming but wanted to stick around for the romance scene, cackling at how embarassed both Atsuko and Kai seemed to be. When Yuko told them she was leaving with Riku, Mariko gave her a pointed look and seemed to want to tell her something, but Kuu punching her arm and trying to get her attention distracted Mariko enough for Yuko to slip away. The tall leader of Persona didn't seem to be in the mood for laughing as he got into the car that was to drive the two of them back to the hotel.

"Are you okay?" asked Yuko tentatively. Riku was definitely acting weird. He was withdrawn and sullen but when he looked at Yuko, he would stare at her intently, like a shark eyeing its prey.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Riku replied sharply. Yuko shrugged, turning to face out the window, not wanting to deal with Riku's temper. The car ride, to say the least, was very awkward. As soon as they got to the hotel, Riku was out of the car, racing ahead of Yuko and ignoring her calls for him to wait for her. Just a little bit frustrated with Riku's behaviour, Yuko entered the elevator alone.

'What the hell...' Yuko had wanted to maybe have dinner or something with Riku. Maybe he was sick? Now Yuko was worried. Arriving at her own floor, she quickly pressed the button for Riku's floor and waited impatiently for the elevator doors to close and get there. As soon as the doors opened to Riku's floor, she was out of the elevator in no time and at Riku's door, knocking impatiently.

"Riku!" Yuko called out softly. "Are you okay? Are you sick?"

There was silence on the other side of the door. Then, Yuko could hear soft steps appraching the door and was surprised when Asahi opened the door, pulling her in. She slammed the door close and pinned Yuko against the door, her whole body radiating anger.

"What-" Yuko was silenced as Asahi leaned forward and kissed her aggressively, leaving the actress weak-kneed and breathless. Both of them were breathing heavily when Asahi finally ended that bruising kiss, still holding Yuko hostage against the door.

"This is what you want, right?" Asahi had her hair down, her long hair framed her face and through the anger, Yuko could see that Asahi was hurt. Really hurt. The sight of tears apparent in Asahi's eyes was like a punch in the gut to Yuko.

"Nyan-nyan, what's wrong?" Yuko was just, completely bewildered and worried as Asahi pushed her away, walking back into her room and sitting down on the bed.

"This is what you want, right? To make a fool of me? To make me think we did it and see how far I'd go?" Asahi raged. She was crying now, angry tears flowing down her face. "Is this some kind of h-hazing ritual or something? So you can tell your friends how funny it was?"

"No, Mariko doesn't even know you're Riku-" Yuko balked at the sight of Asahi's tears, guilt hammering her conscience. Oh shit. Asahi had found out.

"What? What was your intention then?" Asahi wiped at her face, still crying. "You think I-I'd just laugh when you tell m-me that everything you told me was a lie you made up? Oh, 'surprise! this was all a big f-fat joke that you fell for!'?"

"That's not it!" Yuko protested, feeling sick with guilt. She had done this without meaning to. She had made her Nyan-nyan sad. She was a horrible person!

"What w-was it then?" Asahi felt horrible; she felt betrayed. Someone she had considered at least a friend had played a horrible and cruel joke on her. This felt like back when she was in gradeschool, not that long ago when a boy she had liked had agreed to go out with her when she asked him out. The relationship had lasted all of three hours when she had found out later that he had only said yes out of pity and told all of his friends he would date her for a bit and then dump her. Asahi had been heartbroken but Jiro had been there to defend her honour and attempt to beat up this kid. Of course, Jiro had ended up with a broken nose and Asahi had to step in and take her 'boyfriend' down a notch. It had felt good and she had gotten over it quickly. But this time... this time was much worse. There was no Jiro and Yuko had been a friend and they had had more of a relationship than the one she had with her three-hour boyfriend.

It really hurt. Really, REALLY hurt.

"I didn't mean for this to happen." Yuko sat down next to Asahi and awkwardly tried to put an arm around Asahi's shoulders, only to be shrugged off.

"I-I want to be alone." Asahi sniffled. "Go away."

"Nyan-nyan-"

"Don't call me that!" The pillow that Asahi threw at Yuko bounced off her shoulder harmlessly. Yuko wished it had been a rock or something a lot more painful to take away that feeling she got from making Asahi cry. "Go away!"

"Asahi." Yuko tried again, but the woman just burrowed under the sheets of her bed and hid from Yuko. It was heartbreaking to say the least, that she had caused so much hurt to someone who had treated her so well.

"I'm sorry." Yuko started awkwardly, not knowing if Asahi could hear her or not. "I really didn't mean for this to happen. I just... got caught up. And it was nice to have someone always being nice to me, you know, that's why I couldn't say anything. I wanted to. It made me feel bad that you thought you were obligated to date me, but I didn't want to tell you because I really didn't want you to stop being my girlfriend. The other girls aren't laughing at you either, they think I'm an idiot too and from the beginning they were telling me I should've told Riku the truth."

Yuko poured out her heart, hoping that Asahi would listen. "I didn't tell Mariko anything about Asahi but I think Atsuko might have guessed when she saw you today... and I never lied to you about anything else except the sleeping with me part. Everything I've told you about me was true; the stuff about my father, my mother, my everything. I never lied to you about the important stuff."

Yuko was startled as Asahi threw off the blankets to glare at Yuko. "You don't think me sleeping with you or not was important? And what do you mean Atsuko MIGHT have guessed? She knows! Kai told her!"

"So your bandmates know you're a girl?" Yuko asked, astonished. She was instantly jealous and felt protective of Asahi. "So you guys all live in the same house? Have they ever tried anything? Is it safe for you? Do I need to move in to protect you?"

Asahi just stared at Yuko. It was impossible to be mad at Yuko, after the actress' heartfelt confession and her offer to protect Asahi. It was also impossible to be mad at such an idiot. Really, Yuko could be so together on some things, but she totally misses out on other things!

"Kai and Kuu are LIKE ME." Asahi emphasized the 'like me'. Yuko frowned, trying to guess what Asahi meant by that.

"Like you... like... idols?" Yuko guessed.

"No."

"...Musicians?"

Asahi made a buzzer sound.

"Gay?"

Asahi blushed hotly. "I am not gay!"

"But you kissed me when I came in."

Asahi growled. "That was not a 'good' kiss!"

"It was a pretty good kiss to me..." Yuko mused, wondering what was a 'good' kiss and what was a 'bad' kiss.

"Anyways, not gay!"

"But you were dating me, too."

"Because I was a guy!"

"But we both know you're a girl.."

"Doesn't that make you gay too?"

"Nope." Yuko shook her head. "You totally seduced me."

"What?" Asahi wanted to strangle Yuko now. "it's-I-you... it's not the gay thing! Just move on!"

"They're like you in that they are... boys?" Yuko guessed again. She was getting closer, but it was still a very, very wrong answer.

Asahi could feel a headache coming on. "NO. Obviously, I'm not a boy."

"They're like you like..." A bulb seemed to go on behind Yuko's eyes. "LIKE... girls?"

"Bingo." Asahi sighed as that information seemed to make Yuko brain fart.

"WHAT? REALLY?"

"Yes."

"HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?" Yuko exploded. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

"You don't get to yell at me." Asahi crossed her arms. "First: you never asked. Second: I'm still mad at you."

Yuko was immediately apologetic, grovelling again but sat up after only a few seconds of grovelling, stil stunned by the news. "But woah, like Kuu AND Kai? Kuu, I can sorta see it. But Kai? Kai's so manly!"

Asahi just rolled her eyes. "Okay, now I want you to get out of my room."

"What?" Yuko looked stricken. "I thought we were alright!"

"We're far from alright." Asahi slapped Yuko's hand away as she tried to grab Asahi's arm. "Get out!"

Asahi pushed and shoved until she finally kicked Yuko out of her room, slamming the door behind the actress.

"Nyan-nyan!" Yuko looked up and down the hallways furtively, hoping nobody saw her pounding on Asahi/Riku's room door. "Nyan-nyannnnnn... don't be mad at me!"

There was no answer. Yuko pressed her face against the door desperately.

"Don't be mad at meeeee! I'll make it up to you, Nyan-nyan. I swear!" Getting no reply yet again, Yuko pounded her head against the door a few times. When there was still no answer, Yuko decided to leave, dejected, holding her head in pain. But not before giving a speech about moving mountains and bringing down the stars to get Asahi to forgive her. Asahi had her eye at the peephole, having seen and heard everything, wincing when Yuko was pounding her head against the door.

"Stupid." Asahi muttered, turning back into her room. She had no doubt in her mind that Yuko was sincere. Now that she'd calmed down, what Yuko said did really make sense. Yuko had safe-guarded her identity, had been attentive, kind, considerate and caring. Even with the sexual harassment, Yuko was... sort of okay.

"Stupid." Asahi said again, shaking her head as a wry smile stole over her lips. "Stupid Yuko."

* * *

endnote: oh rollercoasters, how I love them. I'm not keeping track of the days so here's a little quiz for all of you: how long as Persona been in Okinawa? How long has Ray? Maybe the prize will be a faster chapter update! Maybe it will just be my thanks. lol. I guess I should give a shout-out to S48 people who are on here. :P You know who you are, people.


	17. Chapter 17

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 17

author's note: dundundun! And the plot thickens!

* * *

"That was a pretty awesome kiss scene!" Kuu gave Kai a thumbs-up as they were driven back to the hotel. Mariko, Atsuko, the Tomomi's and Mayu had piled in to one van. "It was soooo cute!"

"So cute!" Mariko agreed. Atsuko and Kai scowled at their friends. The scene involved Kai and Atsuko's characters confessing their feelings to each other and it had been a really sweet scene where the director had urged them to improv if it was possible. Well, improv they did as Kai and Atsuko flowed naturally with each other, both of them playing sweet and shy when both their characters were supposed to be self-confident players. It had all culminated with Atsuko pecking a kiss on Kai's cheek and the blonde taking her hand in his as they watched the sun set. It had been very cute. Of course, Kasai wanted more, but Kai and Atsuko had gotten so red at the suggestion that the writer had felt sorry for them and nixed that idea.

As everyone teased the two actors, the van pulled up to their hotel, none of it's occupants noticing someone waiting right at the front for them. Before the van had even come to a stop, the door had been wrenched open from the outside and Ray stood there in all her fury, glaring at Atsuko.

"Ahhh..." Kai, like everyone else, was surprised by the Diva's sudden appearance. Just as suddenly as she appeared, she had spun around and walked off, away from the hotel. Everybody in the van exchanged worried looks. What the hell had that been about?

"Ray-bee..." Tomochin was the first to move, jumping out to follow her friend, knowing that the songstress must have found out about the on-screen kiss some how. She could think of nothing else that would rile up Ray that much and cursed whoever had told Ray. "Ray-bee, stop-"

"Don't call me that!" Ray rounded on Tomochin, her anger directed at the closest target-the hair and make-up artist. "I've told you time and time again I hate that nickname! But you keep using it like it's so cute and it's really just annoying! It's a stupid nickname and I hate it!"

That comment actually hurt Itano Tomomi enough to make her stop following Ray as she continued storming off, not bothering to look at her friend. Tomomi had made that nickname up for Ray affectionately and for Ray to dislike the name meant to Tomomi that she disliked the sentiments attached to it. Didn't Ray know that?

"She didn't mean that." Kai was by Tomochin's side, seeming to read her thoughts. "Go back in, I'll deal with her."

Kai was off like a shot before Tomomi could reply, catching up to the tall Diva quickly despite Ray's long legs.

"Oi," Kai called out, slowing down to walk behind her. "Ray, where are you going?"

Ray had slowed down as soon as she heard the blonde's voice, feeling confused and full of heartache. "Going for a walk."

"Okay." Kai continued following behind Ray.

"Alone." Ray pointed out.

Kai shrugged. "Me too."

"Why are you following me?" Ray turned around to ask, not wanting Kai seeing her like this, out of control... lost. She didn't know what to do with Kai. She didn't know what Kai was doing to HER.

"What? No I'm not. We're just coincidentally going the same way." Kai replied impishly. He had seen the look on Ray's face as she fled the van and had jumped out right after Tomochin had. She was not happy and though Kai knew Ray always had her moods and she was bothersome, Kai really didn't like Ray's unhappy moods the most. The Diva should never be unhappy.

"So where are you going?" Kai asked as Ray started walking off again.

"Lawsons." Ray grumbled, the convenience store was as good a location as anywhere since she really had no direction. Kai fell silent behind her, but his steps were reassurring... until she heard him typing on his cellphone and fumed a bit. Was he sending messages to his friends? To 'Acchan'?

That question was answered for her as her phone chirped and she opened it to see mail from Kai.

_There were 2 muffins in the oven_

Ray frowned. Was Kai... spamming her? Her phone chirped again. Another message from the small member of Persona.

_One turned to the other and said 'geez, it's hot in here!'_

Her phone chirped again.

_The second muffin looked at the first muffin and said, 'OMG, A TALKING MUFFIN!'_

Ray burst out laughing at the stupid joke.

"Wow, whoever's sending you those messages must have said something funny." Kai fell in to step beside the songstress, tucking his phone back into his pocket.

"Maybe." Ray shrugged shyly, feeling her heart race at Kai's sweetness. She was going to keep these messages forever!

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" Kai didn't pretend to understand the enigma that was Ray. But he would try his best since... why was he doing this? Before he could question his intentions, Ray had let out a deep sigh.

"Just... stressed." It HAD been a stressful day. Sarukawa-shachou hadn't been happy with her sudden holiday and had sneakily booked an interview for her tomorrow on tv. It had snowballed into a mini-concert and her handlers were all flying down; some of them would arrive around now or early in the morning. Also worried that his star would get harrassed, Sarukawa-shachou had sent down her slew of bodyguards, who were just arriving now. The only person not coming down was her manager himself, who was probably hiding out and hoping that Ray would take out most of her anger at him on the people he sent over.

'And then, there's you.' Ray glanced over at Kai who was humming quietly to himself, waiting for Ray to talk. When Mayu had updated her and told her what was going on on set, Ray had seen red. Atsuko was NOT getting it. Kai was hers and no-one else's! He belonged to her and she belonged to him! Ray had really wanted to fly to the set of Three Sisters and rip Kai and Maeda apart, throw Kai into a taxi and drive away with him back to the hotel so she could ravage him-

"Whatever you're thinking, stop it." Kai deadpanned. He had seen Ray's eyes go glossy and a weird smile spread across her face. Arriving in front of Lawsons, Kai wandered the aisles with Ray who pulled up the hood of her borrowed hoodie and put on her sunglasses while in the convenience store. Kai bought a bunch of snacks while the Diva stayed away from the cash, then they both left together back to the hotel.

"You know," Seeing that the Diva was calm, Kai decided to speak. "Tomochin really worries about you, right? You should talk to her and apologize, you know? Even if you have a lot of friends, I think Tomochin is-"

"I don't have friends." Ray interrupted, a bit harshly. "And I don't need them. Nobody really cares about me, they just like hanging around me because I'm Ray, the number one selling artist in all of Japan."  
"Well, maybe that's true for some people, but I don't believe that's true of Itano. Talk to her." Kai shrugged. "She seems to really care about you. And... well, um... you know. That is... I'm not one of those people who hang around you just cuz you're famous."

Ray almost gave herself whiplash from the speed she turned her head to look at Kai, who was studiously avoiding her eye.

"Kai!"

"Heyheyhey," Kai held up his hands to prevent the singer from glomping him, looking around nervously. "We're outside. Lets go back inside before we do any of that."

"So... you want to do this inside?" Ray blushed.

Kai was also red-faced. "S-stupid! Don't say stuff like that!"

As Kai and Ray made their way back, just in time, a small bus pulled up with some of Ray's staff. The first man who stepped out of the car filled Kai's vision with his size.

"Hey, little man!" Hiro grinned at Kai and grabbed one of the other huge guys that were just getting out of the car, pulling him over.

"Osu." Kai greeted, remembering the big guy that was Ray's main bodyguard.

"Glad to see you here! Hey, have you met Daisuke? Just call him Dai." Hiro pushed a simple-looking baby-faced young man forward, who didn't look at all like a tough bodyguard except for the fact that he was even bigger than Hiro. "We'll all need to know who you are, so introductions are in order."

Kai was quickly introduced to the rest of the security detail, which consisted of two other muscle-bound guys named Masa and Mako-short for Masao and Makoto-who both guarded Ray with Dai and Hiro. All the bodyguards seemed to like Kai a lot, slapping him on the back companionably, happy with anyone that could make their princess happy and their job easier. The force of the slaps was making Kai feel like he was going to cough up his lungs, though. The light-hearted mood of the bodyguards changed, however, when a van pulled up behind the bus Hiro and the others came in. By their body language, these bodyguards were all on the job now.

"Oi." Keigo appeared out of the van that had just arrived and smirked at Kai, his eye drifting to Ray almost immediately after. The Diva, of course, didn't notice, her eyes only on Kai. Her bodyguards noticed though and Dai even managed a low growl as he narrowed his eyes at Keigo. They did not like him at all and the guard dogs' hackles were all raised.

"Yo!" Kai greeted the good-looking young man enthusiastically. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to be sharing the stage with Ray-san; we're performing together." Keigo replied. That got the Diva's attention.

"What?" Her staff were hyper-sensitive to Ray's mood changes and they all cringed at her quiet tone of voice. It meant that she was unbelievably pissed. "Who said this was okay?"

"Um.." her assistant stuttered. "S-S-Sarukawa-shachou."

"Sarukawa-shachou." Ray narrowed her eyes. She did NOT perform with newbies. He knew this. This was his own way of passive-aggressively getting back at her for taking her sudden vacation.

"If he thinks I'll go forward with this just because he booked it already, he's sadly mistaken." Ray studiously ignored Keigo who was trying hard to catch her eye. "Tell whoever is organizing this that Ray performs alone, or not at all. I don't do duets with nobodies. Call my manager; he'll have to come up here and perform himself because Ray is not going to be at this mini-concert."

The assistant looked ready to faint. She was going to get fired! FIRED!

"Hey," Keigo had expected this, knowing the rumours about the Diva's unwillingness to carry her kouhais along. So he came prepared as he sidled up to Kai. "Help me out here, man."

"I dunno," Kai was uncomfortable with this. Ray seemed really unwilling. And this situation felt like back then when Nami's guy friends would try to get her to hook them up with girls they liked. "It's Ray. She makes her own decisions."

"Well, we'll see-" Keigo muttered, slinging an arm around Kai's shoulder. "Ray-san! Kai says he'd love to see you perform!"

Ray paused, frowning. Kai stood there frozen as Ray seemed to consider what Keigo had said.

"Really?" Ray asked. She really didn't want to perform with this guy that had his arm around Kai's shoulder. And she really disliked how he had called her so casually. But... if Kai wanted to see her perform...

"Well, I love your voice." Kai shrugged uncomfortably, knowing that Keigo was using him as leverage. Kai didn't like that at all. "And don't you love singing?"

Ray considered what Kai said. He did make a valid point, she did love singing to an audience and she loved her fans. And she loved that Kai loved her voice. Everybody held their breath as Ray considered it. Ray's entourage was in a little bit of shock. Ray rarely ever reconsidered one of her decisions.

"Fine." Ray nodded tightly, turning to her assistant. "We'll make this work."

As everyone filed into the hotel to check in, Ray quickly caught sight of a lone figure sitting on the lobby couches. With her bodyguards talking animatedly to Kai, she motioned to Hiro that she wanted to go somewhere and he gave her a small nod, both of them slipping away from the main group unobtrusively as they went to the front desk. Ray stormed over with Hiro to the woman sitting on the couch, the big man feeling sorry for whoever was in Ray's crosshairs.

"You." Ray stopped in front of Maeda Atsuko who was sitting there reading a magazine. "We need to talk."

Maeda Atsuko placed her magazine down and stood up calmly. She had been waiting for Kai, while everyone else had gone off to grab some food. This situation had been coming to a head, anyways. While Atsuko walked ahead, leading them to somewhere a bit more private, Ray motioned Hiro close and whispered in his ear. The bodyguard nodded, letting the two girls walk off, watching as they rounded a corner to an area with less traffic to talk.

"So?" Maeda Atsuko crossed her arms, waiting for Ray to make her first move. She would be lying if she said she wasn't scared and a little bit intimidated by the songstress.

"I told you to stay away from Kai." Ray warned. "I don't like repeating myself, but if you're too slow to get it, I'll say it again: Kai is mine. Stay away from him."

Atsuko took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "No."

Ray's eyes narrowed. "You think you can compete with me?"

"Maybe." Atsuko answered tremulously.

"You're a nobody." Ray said coldly. "Sure, right now you're popular, but we all know you can't really act. You're not especially pretty, or especially talented. In a few years, you'll just be another actress that everybody's forgotten. Even now you know it's true. You're weak."

Atsuko was trembling, trying to hold in her anger, her frustration and her fear that what Ray was saying was true.

"You'll always be a nobody," Ray said scathingly, knowing each word was hitting home. "And when everybody else realizes there's nothing special here," Ray looked Atsuko from head to toe, disdainfully. "Don't you think Kai will realize it too?"

"Kai and I-"

"You don't have to say anything, I've seen how close you two are." Ray nodded, hated admitting it to her rival. "But you're just a temporary distraction for him. A talentless girl like you... do you actually think Kai would waste time on someone like you?"

Atsuko had had enough and she cut off Ray's next words with a vicious slap. Ray held her cheek, looking at Atsuko grimly, her eyes challenging her.

"You're a nobody and you'll always be a nobody. Kai will see that you're nothing special and then he'll want nothing to do with you."

Atsuko wound up for another slap when all of a sudden, Kai was in front of her pushing her back.

"Acchan-Atsuko, what are you doing?" Kai asked angrily. "Stop-I said stop it!"

"Kai-" But Kai turned away from Atsuko, his worried eyes on Ray.

"Ray," He placed a cool hand against Ray's cheek, cooling the hot flesh underneath. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Ray muttered, casting furiously triumphant eyes on Atsuko, before looking at Kai with a tender smile. "It just stings a little bit."

"Come on, I'm taking you to your room." Kai said firmly, his voice not permitting any argument.

"Kai-"

"Atsuko," Kai cut off Atsuko. "Why did you hit her?"

"She started it." Atsuko knew what Kai thought of that explanation by the look on his face.

"Oh? So that's your explanation?" Kai shook his head, the confusion and frustration he felt these past few days because of this whole stupid thing Ray and Atsuko had with each other coming to a boil. "Can you not do this, Atsuko? You KNOW. I explained to you-"

"Yes, but-"

"No, no buts!" Kai shook his head. "You know what? I'll talk to you later."

The blonde had a grip on Ray's elbow and lead her away from a tearful Atsuko. The whole scene had played out in front of Hiro's eyes as he watched from a distance. He shivered a bit, seeing how Ray had arranged that whole scene so seamlessly, from how she had set up Atsuko and goaded her into hitting the songstress-because Hiro was sure the docile girl would never make a move unless provoked-to getting Hiro to point Kai over at just the right time.

Ray could definitely be scary some times.

* * *

"You sure you alright?" Kai let Ray press his hands on her red cheek, where Atsuko had slapped her.

"I'm fine." Ray sighed blissfully. Atsuko really hadn't hit her that hard, but she was milking this for all it was worth as Kai baby'd her. From the stuff he had gotten at the convenience store, he brought out a popsicle and let her eat that while stroking Ray's injured cheek gently. To Kai, it was just him worrying about a friend; he didn't think the caresses meant anything other than that. But obviously, Ray felt differently.

"I'm sorry, Acchan's not usually so slap-happy." Kai apologized for his friend. "She's not usually like that."

"It's fine." Ray didn't want to talk about Maeda as she dreamily studied the coutours of Kai's face. Ray wanted to talk about Kai and Ray. "You know, Tomochin's always said that she can't believe I like someone as short as you."

"I'm not that short!" Kai defended himself hotly. "And you tell Tomochin that she isn't that tall herself!"

Ray giggled at his defensiveness. "I don't care. I like you just the way you are."

Kai didn't feel that good about that. Ray didn't even know WHO he was. "Well, you say that now, but later... what if I disappoint you?"

"I don't think you will." Ray closed her eyes and leaned into the soft hand cupping her cheek. "And if you do, I'll just have to deal."

Kai was flabbergasted by her affection for him and voiced his thoughts. "Why do you like me?"

"I don't know." Ray shrugged helplessly. She was hopelessly tied up with this brash, young blonde. "I just do."

"I'm not perfect." Kai tried again. "You could do so much better. You're Ray; you could have anyone."

Ray chuckled, shaking her head. She was uncharacteristically shy, but she wanted to tell him that he might not be perfect, but with all his sharp words, his slow thoughtfulness and kindness... he fit the Diva perfectly. He was so adorable as he looked so hesitant and unsure of himself. Didn't he know what an amazing person he was?

"I don't know what it is, but I've never felt more completely myself than when I'm with you." The Diva confessed, feeling her ears heat up. What was she saying? "Don't you feel it too?"

"Ray." Kai didn't know what to say, wanting to deny whatever it was Ray felt for him and deny that he felt anything that was remotely similar to that. But he couldn't, for some reason. What do you say to a girl who says something like this to you? Something so heartfelt, so sincere? And if you KNEW you were only going to let her down because there was one tiny detail about yourself that she didn't know? One tiny important detail?

"Kai..." Ray took his hands in hers, her heart beating so loudly, she wondered if he could hear. "Do you want to... spend the night?"

"Big pervert." Kai scowled, trying to hide his blush. "I guess you're okay now. I'm gonna go."

"No!" Ray quickly pressed his hand against her cheek and gave him a puppy-dog face. "It still huuuurts."

"Hmph." Kai was pretty sure she was lying to get him to stay, but he felt pretty guilty... the reason this had all happened was because of him, really.

"Hold me." Ray ordered petulantly, afraid that his answer would be-

Kai shook his head. "No."

Ray stuck out her lower lip again, feeling crushed. "It'll make the hurt go away."

His rejection had brought the shine of tears to her eyes and Kai immediately sat closer and took her into his arms. "Fine fine, you, don't have to cry."

"I'm not crying." Ray sighed blissfully, her head on his shoulder. He smelled so good-

"Iya ya ya ya ya!" Kai darted off the bed when he felt Ray's lips clamp onto his neck, sucking lightly. This WOMAN! What was she doing? Heart hammering in his chest with his hand pressed over the spot on his neck, he kept his distance, watching Ray like she was a cobra, ready to strike. "No, Ray! Bad!"

"Kaiii," Ray whined, getting up slowly, eyes locked on the blonde. She couldn't help it. She wanted him.

"Raaaaaay..." Kai backed up, keeping his eyes on Ray as she approached him. As she reached for him, he raced to the door and yanked it open. "I'm going, you seem well enough now, bye!" With that quick farewell, Kai ran for it and smacked straight into Dai.

"Oof!" Kai blinked up at the large man who stared down at him with a wide smile. He had been charged by Hiro to guard this area, to make sure nobody snooped around while Ray was having some private time with that nice young man.

"Kai-san." Dai greeted, straightening up when Ray's door opened and Ray appeared. "Ray-san."

"Dai." Ray nodded at her bodyguard while trying to cool down, combing her fingers through her long hair that had gotten a bit mussed in the process of trying to catch Kai. She had felt his pulse hammering in his neck, heard the sharp intake of his breath. She knew he wanted her. Ray just KNEW IT.

"Ma'am, someone wants to see you."

"Who?" As soon as Ray asked the question, her cellphone chirped, signalling a mail. Taking a quick look at the message, she raised an eyebrow at the missive before closing her phone. "I'll see them."

"So I'm just gonna go check to see if there's any dinner since I didn't eat yet," Kai started off towards the stairwell, which was much faster than waiting for the elevator. "Bye!"

"See you later?" Ray called out hopefully.

"Uh... right. TOMORROW." Kai rolled his eyes, knowing Ray meant later as in him coming back later tonight. At Ray's pout, he knew he had been right on the money on what she had wanted and chuckled. "At breakfast, okay? Every day this week, remember? Be good, Ray. Good night, Dai."

"Night, Kai-san."

Kai grinned up at the big man. "Just Kai, Dai."

"Kai." Dai smiled and watched the man trot off he turned around to walk backwards and call out to Ray.

"Talk to Tomochin!"

Ray nodded obediently. "Yes, dear."

Kai stuck his tongue out at her before disappearing through the doors to the stairwell.

"You can come out now, little mouse." Ray leaned against her doorframe as Mayu's hoodied head poked around the corner and she smiled impishly at her boss, giggling.

"Yes, boss."

"You've found something interesting about Persona, you say?" Ray raised an eyebrow. "Come in."

* * *

Kai went to Atsuko's room to check on the woman, wanting to talk. He had been kind of harsh... but there was no replies to his knocks and when he pressed his ear against the door, he couldn't hear anybody moving about inside.

'So either she's sleeping or she's somewhere else.' Kai took the elevator to go back all the way down to the lobby. Usually, everyone hung out in the hotel restaurant but there didn't seem to be anyone around.

_Where are you?_ Kai sent the mail out to Kuu and Atsuko. Only Kuu replied.

_Saizeriya. come! we got sick of hotel food. A is drunk_

A is drunk... A... Atsuko.

"Acchan." Kai groaned and headed out, remembering that there was a Saizeriya close to the hotel. When he arrived there, Kai congratulated himself for guessing correctly when he spotted the group in a corner. Before going to the table though, he glanced at a mirror near the entrance and cursed when he saw that Ray had left a mark on his neck.

"DAAAAMN ITTTTT." Kai turned up the collar of his shirt, hoping it would cover the mark, then went over to his friends.

"She's like, an unhappy drunk." Kuu informed Kai when he walked over to their table. He greeted everyone and was surprised when Atsuko burst into tears when she saw him.

"I'm," Atsuko's breath was hitching as she tried to talk through her tears. "S-Sorry! D-Don't h-h-h-hate me!"

"I don't hate you!" Kai slid in next to Atsuko, panicked.

"B-But you y-yelled at m-me!" Atsuko sobbed, taking a deep drink from her mug of beer. Judging from the collection of mugs on the table, she'd been going at it for quite some time.

"That's all we can get out of her." Tomochin shrugged, also drinking. Mariko and Yuko were glaring at Kai now.

"Hey," Kai stopped Atsuko from taking another swallow of beer. "I'm not mad at you. I'm sorry I raised my voice, I was just, you were sort of slapping Ray-"

"Woah woah woah. Back up." Mariko leaned forward. "Atsuko, you slapped RAY? The number one-selling artist in all of Japan?"

Atsuko hiccupped, nodding.

"Woah." Yuko's jaw almost dropped to her chest. Then she raised her hand in the air, grinning. "High-five!"

Atsuko tried to give Yuko a high-five and missed, managing to splat her hand on to the pizza they had ordered.

"Lets not do anything that requires coordination right now, okay?" Kai said in a motherly tone, taking Atsuko's hand and wiping it free of greasy sauce.

"So, was it like an open-handed slap," Kuu swatted the air in front of him. "Or like a back-hand?"

Everybody seemed pretty excited about Atsuko slapping Ray, all thoughts of chewing Kai out for yelling at Atsuko were tossed out the window as they all realized Kai had probably been in the right to chastise Atsuko. Nobody was going to yell at Atsuko, however, as everyone looked like they were ready to break out champagne at the news. Everyone except Kai, Tomochin and Kasai that is.

"Is Ray alright?" Tomochin asked, trying to be nonchalent about it. Kasai didn't look too happy, knowing that the other Tomomi was probably worried about Ray.

"She's fine." Kai nodded. "She's working right now."

"Oh, yeah, we bumped into Masa and Mako." Tomochin made a face. "They keep asking Tomomi and I on double-dates."

"The big one is kind of cute," Tomomi the writer giggled.

The hair and make-up artist rolled her eyes. "Which one are you talking about? They're both big."

"The one with the muscles-"

"They both have muscles." Tomochin shook her head in disgust. "Honestly, I don't know if you just do this to annoy me or you're actually this air-headed for real."

"Why am I your friend again?" Kasai snapped back.

"Speaking of which," As everyone chatted together, Kai had to speak up a bit to be heard by Tomochin, even though they were only seperated by a drunk Atsuko. "You know, about before... you know how Ray gets-"

"Don't worry." Itano Tomomi didn't like to make a big deal about things and really didn't like to talk about this. Talking about how she and Ray had gotten into a little tiff in front of so many people would embarrass her. Flipping her phone open, Tomochin opened the mail she had received recently and showed Kai.

_I bought you something. ask the front desk for it. Ray-bee_

Kai read the message a few times, then a few more times before looking up at Tomochin and asking, "What the hell is this?"

The glamorous woman shrugged and folded her phone close. It was enough. And Ray, signing off her message with Tomochin's nickname for her had made Tomochin really happy. "I think this is the charismatic Diva's way of saying sorry."

Kai shook his head in disbelief. "Unbelievable."

Atsuko had a cute frown-y face on as the two people she was sitting between were talking about someone she really, REALLY didn't like at the moment.

"Ray's a b-b-bitch." Atsuko hiccupped crossly.

"Acchan." Kai tsked.

"N-No. She i-is." Atsuko had new tears running down her face. Kai was about to panic again when Mariko caught his attention and shook her head, signalling for him not to worry.

"When she drinks," Yuko explained, seeing Kai's helpless look, "She gets like this. Just let her cry it out and then she'll go to sleep. She's a heavy-weight when it comes to alcohol but once she passes a certain point, she's an emotional-sleepy drunk."

"I can't believe you made up categories for different kinds of drunks." Mariko shook her head.

"But there's like a science behind it all, right?" Kuu was bouncing in his seat excitedly. "Teach me, sensei!"

"She...called me..." Atsuko sobbed. "a nobody."

"What?" Kai frowned, not liking what he was hearing, his heart clenching at the way Atsuko sobbed, even though he knew a large part of the reason she was crying so hard was because she had been drinking equally hard.

"She said... I was... talent-talentless." Atsuko listed out all the things Ray said, the table's other conversations dying down as Atsuko told of her encounter with Ray. At the end of her retelling, Atsuko downed the rest of her beer and pressed a button on the table to call a server for more.

"Woah." Kuu let out a low whistle. "Ray-san hasn't changed at all from the day we've met her."

"She's not usually that bad." Kai couldn't help but speak up and defend Ray.

"Y-You're defending h-her?" Atsuko sniffled loudly. "You don't believe me?"

While Kai tried to placate Atsuko, everybody continued eating and drinking joyfully, Tomochin and Tomomi taking their cues from Kuu and Mariko who had made it known that they were staying the hell out of the relationship hijinxes everybody was getting in to.

"Hey, do you think we should pack up some of this for Riku?" Yuko asked, looking at the food in front of them. She looked a little bit sad as she remembered how Asahi had kicked her out of her room. "Maybe he won't be as angry with me? Hey, Mariko, what if I bought him flowers?"

"Don't." Kuu grabbed Mariko's shoulder as she was about to say something about Yuko and Riku's situation. Yuko had ranted about it enough before they had headed out to dinner, they didn't need to encourage her to start up again. "Just let it go."

"You're right." Mariko took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Just ignore them. Just. Ig. Nore. Them."

Atsuko had her head nestled on Tomochin's shoulder, still hiccupping and feeling miserable. Kai had assured her that he believed her, but the troubled look on his face said that he had difficulty accepting what Atsuko had said. Did Ray really mean that much to him? More than Atsuko meant to him? Guiltily, she realized a part of the reason behind that slap she had given Ray wasn't all about Ray putting her down. Atsuko wanted Kai all to herself, too. She didn't like that Ray had claimed him as hers; if anything, Kai belonged to Atsuko! He wasn't scared when he was around Atsuko, not like when he was with Ray. They were friends; Atsuko understood and accepted Nami's identity and Ray didn't know a thing about Kai!

Knowing all of this though... Atsuko didn't want to be like Ray... but she couldn't help but understand where Ray was coming from as Kai sneakily held her hand under the table. Even though she was quite warm from imbibing so freely tonight, this was different warmth that chased away her depression as he gave her a small smile, worried about her.

To have someone that treated you so well and made you feel so good, wouldn't you want that person all to yourself? Atsuko wanted Nami there for her all the time, to reassure her when she was uncertain, to give her comfort when she was feeling desolate, to make her laugh when she felt like crying.

'Except, this light shines brightest when not hidden under a basket.' Atsuko, even in her drunken state, knew that. Kai would not deal well with being controlled even if Atsuko wanted to have him all to herself. She also just wasn't up for the fight, it really seemed hopeless. Ray could say whatever to her and it would hurt, but Atsuko could take it. What Atsuko couldn't take was the way Kai had looked so disappointed in her, so sad and cornered... she never wanted to see that look again, even if it meant losing Nami.

* * *

Kai was going crazy. He wanted to go back home, everybody was driving him insane! He didn't want to deal with this situation and he was just not sure what was going on with everyone! Ray just made things ten times more complicated than it really was or had to be! After Saizeriya, they had all headed back to the hotel, Kai and Kuu as the 'boys' having to help carry a passed-out Atsuko along... stopping in front of the room he was looking for, Kai knocked on the door.

"Open up." Kai grumbled.

"Who is it?"

"Kai." There was a brief silence, then Asahi opened the door and ushered him in.

"You're out of your work clothes already?" Kai brushed past Asahi to fly onto his bandmate's bed. "Ugh. Kill me, Asahi."

"Wa-cha!" Asahi chopped down on Kai's neck lightly. "What's wrong?"

"Girls." Kai's voice was muffled since he was facedown on Asahi's bed. "I hate them. Now I remember why I had mostly guy friends."

"Whatever, you love us." Asahi lay down on top of Kai, resting her chin on top of Kai's head. "What happened?"

"You're heavy. Get off." Kai rolled over, dislodging Asahi so they were lying side by side now. "Acchan slapped Ray."

"WHAAAAAAT?" Asahi pushed herself up off the bed. "What happened?"

"Acchan said Ray said things to her." Kai covered his eyes with his arm. "I really don't wanna deal with this. I'm tired and I want to just go to sleep and have everything go back to normal tomorrow."

"What's normal?" Asahi poked Kai in the ribs, making the small man squirm. "There's nothing normal about the situation we're in."

"I know." Kai conceded easily. With a 'hup!', Asahi rolled her friend off the bed and on to the carpetted floor.

"Ow." Kai sat up, glaring at Asahi. From her vantage point on the bed, Asahi could make out a red mark on Kai's neck.

"Ooooo.. what's this?" Asahi pointed at the mark on the side of Kai's neck, snickering. "Atsuko or Ray? Is that why Atsuko and Ray were fighting?"

Kai slapped a hand over that spot on his neck, a bit belatedly, in Asahi's opinion.

"I'm guessing Ray," Asahi mused. "Atsuko wouldn't be so forward and that would explain why she would slap Ray."

"This was after their fight. You guys have the wrong idea about Acchan and me." Kai grumbled. "Ray attacked me after I brought her to her room. She's like, a big pervert."

"I feel your pain." Asahi sighed.

"Oh right, how're you and Yuko? I'm assuming you guys talked since you came back early."

"We've broken up and I'm mad at her. But we're fine." Asahi shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. She considered her hands washed on all things relationship-y with Yuko. No more of being Yuko's boyfriend! YES! Or that's what she told herself. She sort of missed Yuko's playful stupidness. It was like having a big stupid puppy around. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knocking at her door.

"Rikuuuu," Kuu's voice came through the door. "Kai's in there with you too, isn't he? Let me innnnn!"

"I'm out of my work clothes!" Asahi called through the door. "There's no-one else with you?"

"Nope!"

Asahi let Kuu in and locked the door behind the boy. Kuu jumped onto the bed and rolled around in pleasure.

"Get off my bed, you're dirty." Asahi growled, but was not really serious. Kai joined Kuu with rolling on the bed, bumping in to each other and trying to roll over each other to the other side of the bed. They were obviously making a game of it as they laughed and pushed each other.

"Guys, really." Asahi shook her head but she let them play, this week had been kind of hard on all of them. Watching the two for a while, Asahi jumped on the bed too and joined them in rolling around the bed; and soon all three of them were laughing uproariously at the fun they were having.

"I miss this." Kuu said.

"What?" Kai asked when he could control his gigglings.

Kuu clarified. "Just the three of us. It's fun with everyone, but it's more relaxing with just us."

Nobody said anything but all were in agreement with Kuu's statement. Laying in bed, they went through their week, talking to each other about how they felt about the drama and of course, their relationships with their co-stars.

"I feel like sometimes Yuko and Mariko don't like me too much." Kai said, a bit forlornly. "And Tomochin too."

"Of course." Kuu snorted. "You're dating Atsuko AND Ray. The Dinosaur, Yuko and Tomochin are all Atsuko's friends. And Tomochin's Ray's friend, too."

"I knowwwww..." Kai groaned. "I can't make everyone happy!"

"But Yuko and Mariko are okay with you." Asahi, ever the peace-maker, tried to console Kai. "They just get frustrated at you when you're trying to juggle both Ray and Atsuko."

"And how." Kuu nodded. "Dino wants to kick your ass some times but she secretly likes what a good influence you are on Atsuko."

"I'm a good influence?" Kai deadpanned. "Really? Did she think I was a good influence before or after Acchan slapped Ray?"

"After." Kuu replied cheerfully.

"What?"

"Yeah, Atsuko's a lot more fiery now, the old woman says." Kuu rolled over so he was cuddling against Kai. "But before, she thought you were good for Atsuko too since she was always a bit withdrawn around people... but with you around, she comes out of her shell."

"Huh." Kai tried to shrug Kuu off, but to no avail as his bandmate held on with a pout. "You should stop calling Mariko 'Dinosaur' and 'old woman', you know? It's kind of rude."

"She's started calling me Gachapin." Kuu snarled. "It's only fair!"

Asahi let out a snort of laughter which started Kai laughing too. In truth, they could sort of see how Kuu resembled the character Gachapin, a green, buck-toothed dinosaur. For some odd reason, Gachapin and Kuu just sort of gave off the same vibe.

"It's not funny." Kuu protested. "That old woman needs to stop agitating me!"

"But it seems like the two of you have a lot of fun with each other." Asahi also rolled over to cuddle Kai on the other side of him. The blonde frowned and tried to shake her off, but his friends held on tightly, ignoring his attempts.

"We're not." Kuu narrowed his eyes. "We're enemies. In fact, we're each other's ARCH-ENEMIES."

"Only cartoon characters have archenemies." Kai tapped Kuu on the head.

"Ouch." Kuu rubbed his head, sticking out his lower lip. "Well, what about you, Asahi? Are you and Yuko still love-love?"

"We're not love-love!" Asahi answered heatedly. "We cleared up our differences. We're not dating any more and I'm still mad at her."

"But not really mad." Kai could be obtuse some times, but even he could tell that Asahi wasn't really mad at Yuko anymore.

"I don't like you guys." Asahi grumbled, snuggling into Kai's shoulder.

"Hmmm... hey." Kai tried to shake off his friends. "Guys-goddamn it, stop snuggling with me! You know I hate L-"

"The lady doth protest too much," Kuu rolled his eyes, not wanting to let go. "Really, you should just admit to yourself you're like that. We'll accept you."

"I admit nothing!" Kai sat up, disloding his companions from clutching on to his arms. "I'm going back to my room!"

The blonde stormed out and Asahi and Kuu lay there on the bed, giggling. It was just too easy to rile up Kai. They lay there in easy, companionable silence until Kuu decided that Asahi also needed to go down that path with Yuko.

"Think about it," Kuu tried to convince Asahi as he was slowly being pushed towards the room's exit. "She's a pretty good actress so you two would be like a power couple! Your identity as a guy would be secure and think of the publicity!"

"That sounds like something shachou would come up with." Asahi got the door open and tried to push Kuu out. "I forbid you to talk about this anymore. Yuko and I have agreed that we're through-"

"Um." Yuko, who had been standing outside unnoticed by the two, grinned at Asahi nervously. "Actually, you only said we were 'not okay'. We're still dating."

"We are not." Asahi, getting over the shock at seeing Yuko, had to put her foot down. "We are broken up."

"I refuse this break up offer." Asahi finally noticed that Yuko had a boquet of colourful flowers in her hands when the actress thrust the gift out into her arms. "I am hereby giving you notice of my make-up courtship. Starting now."

"Well, I refuse your make-up courtship and want you to stop being stupid." Asahi replied.

"You can't refuse, you've already accepted my make-up courtship gift which signifies your acceptance of the make-up courtship." Yuko backed away now, then started running off down the hall at break-neck speed to avoid Asahi trying to give back the flowers. "No take-backkkkkkssss..."

"That idiot!" Asahi wanted to scream in frustration. Kuu just patted Asahi on the shoulder, trying not to snicker at his friend's misfortune.

"Through, eh?" Kuu barely managed to avoid Asahi's vengeful fist.

* * *

endnote: And that's it! Seems like Yuko's not giving up at all! Unfortunately (or fortunately for you guys), I'm not completely heartless. Well, no, I am. But your wishes coincided with my wish to make Yuko and Asahi's relationship hilarious. So there you go. But how'd you all like that non-existent love-scene between Atsuko and Kai? BWAHAHAHA.


	18. Chapter 18

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 18

author's note: FINALLY! We've reached the end of the Okinawan arc. Back to Tokyo, everyone! You're gonna hate me for this, guys. LOL.

* * *

Kai was waiting for the elevator, the guys having gone down before him. Today was the last day of shooting... which meant that they would all be going home soon, most likely tomorrow. Saeko and Marilyn-who had made themselves scarce throughout this trip-stopped by to tell the boys that they had plenty of things to do in Tokyo and should start packing up. Kai was caught in a wide yawn as the door to the elevator opened, revealing Maeda Atsuko.

"Ohayo." Kai greeted, walking into the elevator. She smiled weakly at him, remembering how mortifyingly embarrassing she had been the night before.

"Ohayo. Um," Atsuko groaned. "You know last night, I was just really drunk. I hope you don't think I'm weird."

"Uh," Kai rolled his eyes, fixing the thin scarf he had around his neck. The hickey Ray had given him was not that visible but he didn't want attention being called to it. He'd get Mayu to discreetly hide it for him... "Really? You actually think that I, of all people, would think you were weird?"

Atsuko giggled as Kai motioned to himself. "Remember who Kai really is? Remember who Nami is?"

"You do have a point." Atsuko grinned at the blonde. "So lets just forget what happened last night."

"There's just one thing I gotta do first." Kai remembered Atsuko's tearful face last night and it did not sit well with Kai at all. At Atsuko's quizzical look, Kai explained himself. "I'm going to talk to Ray about yesterday-"

"No!" Atsuko grabbed Kai's arm. "Just... just let it go, Kai."

"What? No. Why should I?" Kai crossed his arms stubbornly. "You were really upset. Ray needs to stop being a bully-"

"Kai, just forget about it." Atsuko pleaded. "It's more trouble than it's worth and I don't want you to get into a fight with anyone because of me, it's not worth it."

"You are worth it." Kai argued heatedly. Atsuko's hand gently cupping the side of the hot-headed young man's face stopped Kai from continuing his argument as he realized how tired Atsuko looked.

"Thank you for standing up for me." Atsuko smiled. It made her so happy to know that Kai would fight for her. But she didn't want to fight, she was just so tired and Atsuko knew Ray would not back down, ever. "But Kai, please. Please, just let it go."

The blonde fell silent, biting the insides of his cheek moodily. Finally, he gave a tight nod. "Fine. But if she says anything to you again-"

"It'll be fine." Atsuko felt relieved that Kai wasn't going to say anything. But her relief was short-lived and replaced by bitterness when, as soon as they got to the restaurant for breakfast, Kai was immediately escorted over to Ray's table by two of Ray's bodyguards; the Diva already at the table with Tomochin. Of course, there was no room for anyone else to eat there and that meant Kai's bandmates and of course, Atsuko. The quiet actress, however, hadn't been planning to eat at that table anyways. If it caused trouble for Kai, she'd rather just not fight with Ray.

"Here!" Ray had a tray of fruit for Kai that her guards had bullied out of the hotel staff.

"Hai.." Kai ate obediently, knowing if he didn't, Ray would try to feed him. Before, it was alright if Ray pulled him to the corner to fuss at him. But now with so many people around and the presence of the Diva's entourage immediately drawing eyes to them, Kai didn't want to risk having a papparazzo taking a photo of them being more than friendly. Even with Ray in disguise, the people around her gave her away.

"Guys, eat up!" Kai nudged the big guys sitting at the table. They all glanced at their charge discreetly, who gave them a barely perceptible shake of her head and a death glare.

"No, you go ahead, man." Masa said wisely. "We don't like fruit."

"I like fruit." Dai said mournfully, the only one who had missed Ray's threat. A sharp elbow from Mako stopped him from complaining more, though.

"But you're full, right?" Hiro laughed loudly, trying to draw the heat away from Dai. "Can't eat another bite?"

"There's always room for fruit!" Kai tsked and shovelled some fruit on to Dai's plate.

Ray finally protested. "But that's for Kai!"

"I can't eat all of this." Kai reasoned. "And it's best we don't let this go to waste. Here, you have some too. If you're gonna be singing, you should have more vitamins-don't look at me like that."

Ray had stars in her eyes as Kai scooped out fruit for her.

"Kai's so good to me!" Ray squealed.

"Some times you wonder why he's this good to you. Is it out of fear?" Tomochin muttered loudly as she shovelled a disgusting mixture of food into her mouth. Masa and Mako watched the hair and make-up artist in horrified fascination. How could someone so damn sexy eat like such a beast?

"No, it's not out of fear!" Ray snapped, but there was considerably little bite in her voice, the two friends on amiable terms again. Ray's gift, a two-hundred-thousand yen Louis Vuitton purse, had been accepted graciously as Ray's apology.

As the Diva ate with the people of her choosing; Kuu and Riku were saddled with Keigo and his handler, a quiet mousy man. The handler kept silent and didn't say much while Keigo filled the air with his questions and comments.

"Dude, so what's going on with Kai and Ray?" Keigo asked the two 'guys' he was sitting with. Riku and Kuu shrugged uncomfortably, not wanting to answer the question.

"Nothing." Kuu replied, glancing forlornly over at the girls, some times making faces at Mariko who was also looking over. The girls they usually ate with were eating at a seperate table today, Keigo driving a wedge between them immediately. Yuko had been sitting with them before, chatting up Riku; but as soon as Keigo showed up, she excused herself politely and went to sit with Mariko. Mariko had gotten to the restaurant before all the other girls but had avoided them as soon as she saw there was a new guy who leered at her when she got close to Kuu and Riku's table. The other girls had seen the new addition and had also said polite but distant hellos to the boys before going over to Mariko. Keigo seemed to not notice at all that the girls were not sitting with them, assuming that the guys and girls were always segregated.

"So he hasn't tried to hit that?" Keigo snorted. "Is he gay? I mean, I know boy groups are kinda gay but to not try when you got a chance?"

"He's not gay. Ray and Kai are just good friends and he wants to keep it professional. Why can't they just be friends?" Riku was fuming slightly, not liking at all how Keigo was disrespecting Kai.

"Not saying you can't be friends." Keigo talked as he shovelled scrambled eggs into his mouth. "But you know, as men, we gotta aim for benefits, right?"

"He's a man amongst men." Kuu bristled. "A real gentleman."

Keigo laughed out loud, taking a swallow of juice to clear his mouth of food. "Seriously, that's funny. You guys just need to know that if you were a real 'man amongst men', you would have the girls all over you and you'd be giving it to the girls hard, if you know what I mean."

Riku and Kuu smiled and nodded weakly at what Keigo said, wishing that they were sitting with the girls. While the guys talked amongst themselves, Mariko was glancing over at the guys' table from time to time. It felt too... quiet without Kuu.

"I miss Riku." Yuko whined. She had been whining about having to sit away from Riku since arriving at Mariko's table. Everybody just nodded understandingly, even Mariko didn't snap at the woman who seemed even more desperate to be around Persona's defacto leader. Their group seemed incomplete without the guys. Tomomi dozed at the table, barely touching her food. Without Tomochin around to force her to eat, Kasai was happy to just sit there and snooze. Atsuko was just pushing her food around her plate to make it seem like she was eating. The only person who seemed to be eating normally was Mayu, in a purple hoodie today.

"Acchan, eat your food." Mariko's use of Kai's nickname for Atsuko made the quiet girl wince, feeling the loss even more. When breakfast was finished, everyone was more than happy to run off to work, all of them congregating in the lobby to wait for transportation to their set.

"Yo." Tomochin smiled at the girls, Kasai floating over to latch on to Tomochin and using the make-up artist's shoulder as a pillow. Yuko stuck to Riku and started, to Riku's embarrassment, reciting bad romantic haikus to Riku. Mariko and Kuu immediately engaged in a little battle, pushing each other like kids on the playground and calling out insults happily. Even Mayu looked oddly at ease in that group, with Riku engaging her in conversation while ignoring Yuko.

"Alright, you got all our numbers, right?" Hiro walked Kai over to the Three Sisters' cast, unwilling to leave the man. To the bodyguards, Kai had become like... some kind of holy saviour. With him around, Ray was manageable and seemed to act more like a girl than a spoiled artist. It was cute, really, how she hung on Kai's every word... Hiro had never seen Ray look as happy as she did now.

"Yeah, yeah." Kai grinned and gave Hiro a thumbs-up. "See you guys around."

"You think you're gonna come to the concert?" Hiro asked eagerly. He knew Ray wanted the blonde there and if Kai didn't show, she might throw a fit.

"I'll try." Kai shrugged. He did want to go and see Ray and Keigo perform, but if filming went on late, he wouldn't be able to make it. "Seriously, I'll try my best."

"Alright, try, okay?" Hiro bowed politely. "See you around. Maybe bring Tomochin along, too."

"Osu." Kai nodded and waved good-bye to the big man.

"Those guys are pretty scary-looking." Kuu sidled over to comment, soon as Hiro had left.

"They're good guys." Kai defended the four bodyguards. "It's their job to look scary. Really, they're like... overprotective puppies."

"Or like rottweilers who THINK they're puppies but seriously, they could rip you apart." Riku had also joined the boys in commenting on Ray's entourage. "She has a pretty big group, doesn't she?"

"She does." Kai nodded, noticing that even though people fluttered around Ray, she was like the eye of the hurricane, the calm in the storm. People rotated around her, interacted around her but a space seperated her from others no matter what. She looked kind of lonely.

"What's that?" Kuu's voice brought Kai back to the present and the blonde clutched the little take out box closer to his chest, scowling at Kuu.

"Nothing. It's not for you."

"Who's it for?" Atsuko had wandered over to talk to Kai, curious.

"Exactly the person I wanted to see." Kai promptly answered and handed the box over to Atsuko with a grin. "It's food and it is for YOU. You weren't eating so I got you some stuff."

"You saw that?" Atsuko accepted the box of food gratefully. She had started to feel hungry as soon as she left the restaurant, regretting letting her mood affect her ability to stuff her face.

"Of course." Kai rolled his eyes. "If you're going on a diet, don't do it. You look just fine."

"Last day of filming, come on, hurry up!" For once, Marilyn, Megumi and Saeko were there with them.

"Seems like we didn't see you at all this whole week..." Mariko commented as they all headed outside as a group to get into the vans that had pulled up to take staff and actors to set.

"Well, we ARE in Okinawa." Megumi shrugged. "Saeko-san, Marilyn-san and I went sight-seeing. We did most of our work the first few days and you guys would call if anything happened."

The two managers and Marilyn had run around, doing all the tourist-y stuff, glad for the vacation.

"Wasn't it great when we had that grilled eel?" Megumi gave a truly indecent groan. "It was so delicious!"

"It was, wasn't it? And that Okinawan style barbecue..." Marilyn agreed, giving her own little indecent moan of pleasure. The young idols and actresses all just shook their head, all of them deciding to just ignore their managerial staff as they got into their rides to go for their last day of filming.

* * *

"AAAAAAnnnnnd, CUT! Perfect!" The director shouted. Mariko and Kuu were still locked in their fight, Mariko having trapped Kuu in a headlock and was 'gently' grinding her elbow into Kuu's back until Kuu stepped on Mariko's toes in an attempt to get her to let go.

"Itaaaaa!" Mariko let go, jumping away from Kuu.

"You-" Kuu was stopped in his tracks, Saeko having sped onto the scene and caught him by the back of his collar, sort of like how the owner of an unruly dog would pull on the dog's leash. Choking, Kuu was pulled back, looking quite undignified.

"Awesome! And we're done, guys! Everybody, give yourselves a hand!" Kasai clapped happily and everybody else applauded too. The sound of clapping kicked Kuu and Mariko out of their animosity and they bowed to the staff, thanking them for their continued support. The members of Persona were surprised with boquets of flowers bought by the staff, to thank them for their time on the set of the Three Sisters.

"After five takes," Megumi shook her head, sighing. "Mariko and Kuu need to stop playing around with each other."

"She thought that was playing?" Riku leaned over and whispered to Kai. Mariko and Kuu had screwed up the scene a couple of times because they had gotten caught up in their animosity towards each other. The blonde shrugged.

They had finally ended filming, everybody was done and everyone was in the mood for a celebration.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" Kasai was pumping Kai's arm up and down, tears of gratitude at the corners of her eyes. The woman was sure that Kai was the one who had made it all possible for her to finally write in that love scene that she wanted for Atsuko. Without the blonde, she was sure Atsuko wouldn't have acted half as good as she did for this story arc.

"Y-y-y-y-you're w-w-w-welcome." Kai gritted out as the writer almost took his arm off, looking over Kasai's shoulder to search for Atsuko. Their last scene had required Atsuko to dredge up every ounce of her acting ability. And boy, had she delivered. It was like... it wasn't Atsuko anymore and Kai was really staring at Eri, the second sister of the drama Three Sisters. This Eri was completely different from the Eri she played in other episodes. That Eri was cold, distant, self-serving and self-interested. This Eri that stood shyly with Kai's character, Kenji, was an entirely different creature. She wasn't collected or cool, she was blushing and shy and so incredibly sweet. She was a girl who had fallen in love for the first time, delighting in her time with her love interest that was more innocent than she was usually used to.

This last scene had asked for raw emotions that Atsuko had never shown on screen, devastation and genuine pain from a love lost. Eri had had to break off the relationship with Kenji since her character demanded her to. Losing control wasn't something Eri would do and falling in love with Kenji was losing control for her; so Atsuko's character had decided to break things off with the only guy she had ever liked. That scene had been heartbreaking, of course, with Kenji storming off acting hurt, angry and confused. Atsuko had played her part beautifully, acting regretful after walking away from Kenji and running back to see if he was still there. The way she had frantically searched for him at the beachside boardwalk where she had broken up with him, knowing that she had made a mistake, had been the best acting Atsuko seemed to have ever done on this drama.

"It was great how Atsuko ran after you, right?" Kasai held on to Kai, preventing him from going off in search of the actress. "The way she walked away, trying to not care-it's going to look great! I can see it now, with the camera zooming in on her as she turns back around and whispers, 'Kenji', then she starts running after you-"

"Sorry, Kasai." Kai smiled apologetically. "But, uh, I need to use the washroom so..."

"Oh! Sorry! Go, go, I'm sorry, I didn't know I was keeping you!" Kasai still had a grasp on Kai's hand, unwilling to let go. It wasn't until Tomochin arrived and intervened that Kai was finally able to slip away. Right after they had finished, Atsuko had disappeared and Kai had sat patiently, waiting for her to come back. When Atsuko hadn't come back immediately, Kai had been worried.

"Where could she have gone," Kai muttered to himself, going through the hallways of the studio they were filming at. Deciding to take a washroom break before heading back to the set to get out of make-up and costume, he paused when he heard Atsuko's name being mentioned in the girls' washroom.

"Acchan?" Kai pushed the door open and poked his head in tentatively. Yuko spotted him and waved him in.

"Yo!" Yuko greeted and tapped on the closed door of the stall in front of her. "Atsuko won't come out."

"Go away." Atsuko grumbled.

"Acchan?" Kai said a bit more loudly. There was a pause before Atsuko answered.

"Kai?"

"I'll leave you two alone." Yuko sing-songed, heading out the door. She paused for a second though and turned back, scowling. "Wait. Are you two really dating or not really? Did you guys sleep together that night? Cuz Riku told me-"

"We didn't sleep together, for god's sake. Like, LITERALLY we slept together but if you meant having sex, NO." Kai sighed. "We're just really good friends."

"Oh... so... Ray-"

"Doesn't know." Kai growled, bristling at the Diva's name. He didn't know why. He just didn't like people mentioning him and Ray.

"Ah." Yuko, though stupid at times, could make connections when it wasn't really important to her. "Alright. I'll guard the door. Five minutes!"

As soon as Yuko was gone, Kai knocked on Atsuko's stall. "Acchan?"

"Just... give me a minute." There was the sound of the toilet paper roll rustling, then the flushing of the toilet. Atsuko opened the door, her eyes still red from the crying she did for her role.

"You alright?" Kai watched Atsuko go to the sink and wash her hands. Kai pulled out his hankerchief and handed it to the actress who accepted it graciously. All of a sudden, she paused and closed her eyes, letting out a huge shuddering sigh.

"I've never done that before."

"What?" Kai asked.

"Acted like that. Acted so well. It was like... like I *was* Eri." Atsuko turned thankful eyes to Kai. "It's all because of you. And Mariko and Yuko of course."

"What'd I do?" Kai blinked.

"You were just you." Atsuko smiled. "I'm always nervous in my roles and I know Mariko and Yuko wouldn't criticize me... but they're better actors than I am... or at least a lot more confident than me. I always felt the camera on me before and I was always so aware that I was just Maeda Atsuko, nobody special-"

"Don't say that." Kai shook his head angrily. "You are special. Don't let anybody tell you different."

"Well, when you're around, I feel better. I can just concentrate on you and not everybody watching me." Atsuko smiled, but then her smile trembled a bit. "It's the end of filming and we're all going back to our lives. What will I do without you?"

"You just keep trying your best." Kai grabbed her hands, so used to doing this with Ray that it came naturally for him to try to comfort others with hand-holding. "I'll be supporting you no matter what. Even if I can't physically be with you, you know I'm a phone call away, right?"

Atsuko just felt so sad. "You're like my best friend, you know?"

Kai just smiled and awkwardly gave Atsuko a pat on the shoulder, uncomfortable with intense feelings like this. It did feel like Atsuko was like... a soulmate of sorts. Like they might've met before in a past life or an alternate universe and been friends there.

"You know I," Kai almost faltered, but continued on bravely. "I love you, right? You're like my best friend, too."

Atsuko giggled and poked Kai's red cheek. "Ooooohhh... if I didn't know better, even I'd get the wrong idea about us!"

"Shut up." Kai growled, still blushing. Atsuko took this moment to hug Kai close to her, happy to have heard Kai say those words. It had been exactly what she had been feeling, but had been unable and unwilling to put into words. She did love Kai, the way that she loved a sister. Atsuko hadn't been able to pinpoint it down... the feelings had been intense and their automatic connection disconcerting... Maeda Atsuko had never really connected with anyone the way she did with Kawachi Nami.

"There, you big baby." Kai stroked the back of Atsuko's head like she would a beloved pet. "Feel better?"

"Much." Atsuko pushed away. She looked better, too.

"Come on. Everyone's waiting for us." Kai grinned at Atsuko who gave her a grin right back. They exited the ladies' washroom cautiously, but Yuko gave them a thumbs-up for all clear.

"Better?" Yuko hooked an arm in Atsuko's.

"Much." Atsuko smiled.

"Ah..." Kai suddenly remembered why he had been heading to the washrooms in the first place. "Go on without me first. I actually need to use the washroom."

"Okay, we'll meet you back there!" Atsuko and Yuko walked off and Kai ducked into the men's washrooms with a resigned sigh. He hated the men's washroom. The smell of urinal cakes was always a scent that greeted him whenever he walked into the men's toilets. After finishing his business in one of the stalls and washing his hands, he checked his cellphone. There were several missed calls from Ray and a few messages. Going through them, he winced a bit. He should've checked his phone during his breaks, but he had been so nervous.

_2 hours until start time! I'm waiting for you! xoxo. P.S. Ray loves Kai!_

_ 1 hour until the tv show, i'm in my dressing room! Hiro will get you in, just txt him! kisses! You're going to LOVE what I'm wearing!_

_ Kai, 30min. Where are you? *sad face*_

_ I'm on in 2 minutes. If you can't watch the show, the concert is after! Please come!_

_ where are you? *sad face*_

_ Kai, I'm going on stage. I hope you're out there watching me._

That had been the last message from Ray. The next one was from Hiro.

_Yo, you missed a good show. That keigo had to play guitar n the back wif the band, you shoulda seen how angry he was. he was only on for like, 1 song for some other artist. i think he's going back to the hotel to check out and catch a flight back to Tokyo now, hahah. The Princess is kinda down though. hope you can make the afterparty._

An address was attached to Hiro's mail and Kai messaged back quickly before heading out back to his friends.

"Where have you been?" Riku asked as Kai nodded a quick hello to Kuu who was watching Tomochin wipe down Riku's face. Kai sat next to Riku and Mayu quickly appeared at Kai's side to start the process of removing the make-up he had on.

"Washroom." Kai kept still, letting out a sigh of contentment as the caked-on make-up was stripped off.

"Hey, everybody wants to go out and party!" Kuu leaned against the back of Kai's chair. "We should do something, you know? Maybe karaoke or-"

Kai's phone chirped and he quickly read through the message and typed back a quick reply before grinning up at Kuu.

"Sorry bout that. But to answer our question, we're going to an izakaya. Apparently, Ray's having a party there and has invited all of us."

"Serious? Food?" Kuu's eyes lit up. "Like, all of us? Ray?"

"The whole place is booked out. Apparently, some rich guy that's a fan of Ray decided to pay for the whole place because she felt like going to an izakaya." Kai didn't mention that it was Hiro who had actually done the inviting.

"Izakaya?" Riku's brows scrunched up into a frown at the mention of the bar-type restaurants. "I so don't see some Ray wanting to go to an izakaya. That seems so... unlike what Ray would like."

Kai shrugged, feeling a bit guilty. The last message Hiro sent him had been a bit frantic. Something about Ray trying to eat out the restaurant's bibimbap and ordering lots of chu-hi's for herself.

"Oh no." Tomochin was listening in on the conversation. "When Ray goes to izakayas, that means she's in a bad mood. Is she eating bibimpabs and drinking chu-hi's?"

"Yeaaahhhh..." Kai answered cautiously.

"We need to get there now." Tomochin picked up her new Louis Vuitton bag, her face showing how worried she was. "Mayu, clean up everything for me? You," Tomochin pointed at Kai. "Come with me."

Kai quickly forwarded the address of the bar-restaurant to Riku so he could direct everybody else there and left with Tomochin first.

"That boy." Yuko shook her head in amusement, finally able to make sense of Kai's 'player' ways. It wasn't that he was a player, it was just that he was still thinking like a thoughtful girl who wanted to keep his friends happy. "He's a nice guy, isn't he?"

"Some times, I forget that he's not what he seems to be." Atsuko sighed, feeling a twinge of jealousy again. She didn't want to be like Ray... she wanted Kai to be friends with whoever he wanted. And even though Atsuko wanted to keep Kai all to herself, she understood Kai needed to be everywhere for his friends. Atsuko watched Riku and Kuu spread the news and watched as people all agreed readily, eager to party after working so hard on this set.

"Where's Tomochin?" Kasai Tomomi pouted, coming over to them. She had just finished speaking to the director and the director of photography to talk briefly about this arc. They were going to go for a slightly different feel and had wanted to discuss it. Now Tomomi was tired out and wanted to go have dinner with her friends and the only one missing seemed to be the hair-and-make-up artist.  
"Went ahead of us." Yuko shrugged. "Come on, lets go!"

"Mayu, you done?" Kuu paused to ask Tomochin's assistant. The girl in the hoodie gave Kuu a smile.

"Almost."

"I'll wait for you." Kuu offered. While everyone arranged how they were going to get to this izakaya, Tomochin and Kai were already there and had immediately bypassed Dai, who was the bouncer for the night. The restaurant was maybe 25% full, some faces recognizable as they were tv personalities. Ray was nowhere to be seen, however.

"Over there." Tomomi pushed Kai towards a small room sectioned off from the public by paper sliding screens. Mako and Masa were guarding the entrance of this room, arms folded across their broad chests, deterring anybody from trying to approach. Tomochin walked right up to them however and gave them a casual wave. "Yo. Ray in there?"

"Itano." Masa grinned at Tomomi, white teeth gleaming. "When are you gonna accept my offer?"

"What?" Tomomi raised an eyebrow, pausing at the entrance to the room to give Masa a look while Mako and Kai looked on in amusement.

"Ya know, me and you... getting together..." Masa shrugged, looking young and boyish. Tomomi wasn't fooled, of course and crossed her arms, giving him a wry look.

"The day I go out with you is the day the apocalypse happens and you're the last man on earth." Tomomi deadpanned as Mako let out a snort of laughter. Kai held it in better, but couldn't help grinning at the scene before him. "And even then, I think I might switch over to women. Now move."

Mako let out a loud guffaw, deep belly laughs shaking his huge frame. Masa just shrugged foolishly and moved aside, still grinning at Tomomi.

"She's warming up to me, man." Masa said to Kai as Tomomi brushed past him into the room. "Last time, she said it'd be a cold day in hell before she'd date me. Last man on earth seems like I got better chances."

"My man," Mako wiped tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes, still trying to reign in his laughter. "I'm telling you, it ain't better."

Inside the room was a low table where a few bigwigs from the tv station were seated, plus a young-ish man in an expensive suit, sitting beside the Diva. Ray herself, was nursing a tall glass of chu-hi and from the empty mugs in front of her, had been drinking quite a few of those alcoholic beverages already. She was engaged in conversation with the expensive suit, obviously a little bit tipsy... Hiro stood behind her, watching the scene and was glaring daggers at the suit who was getting a bit TOO friendly with the songstress. But he couldn't do anything since she hadn't tried to stop the suit from sitting WAY too close to her... or hadn't noticed since she'd been going crazy on those drinks. He didn't want to step in until things got really bad...

Like right about now.

'Screw this,' Hiro thought darkly as he saw the suit place a hand on Ray's arm. He was going to twist this guy's head off! Before Hiro could move however, a familiar voice stopped him.

"Ray!" Kai was at the door, glaring at the guy sitting next to Ray. Tomochin was also there and was giving the suit a look that would've melted glaciers.

"Kai?" Ray looked up, having trouble concentrating from all the chu-his she'd been downing. However, to her credit, she masked it quite well, seeming quite sober.

"Hey!" The blonde said loudly, trotting over and giving the suit a friendly, but dangerous smile. "Shove over, man."

"There are other spots outside." The man replied coldly. "This room is private, you need an invitation to get in here."

"Kai's my guest." Ray shot her host an icy look. Nobody talked to her Kai like that. "I invited him."

"Hey, it's fine if you don't wanna move over." Kai shrugged. "Ray, can you sit over there, please?"

Ray blushed and did just that since there was no-one sitting in the two seats on the other side of her, Ray moved over one and Kai sat down in her spot. Tomochin flanked Ray's other side, creating a barrier around Ray. Hiro immediately stood back and relaxed, looking at the back of the suit's head smugly. Hiro really liked Kai, the guy was alright.

"You're here." Ray grabbed Kai's hand shyly, underneath the table, unbeknownst to everyone in the room. Kai smiled at her nervously and squeezed the Diva's hand once before letting go.

"Sorry I couldn't make the concert." Kai apologized sincerely. He had really wanted to see her and said so. "I really wish I coulda been here, I really wanted to hear you perform live. Oh, and I heard you were being mean to Keigo."

Ray sniffed haughtily, a bit of arrogance coming back. "I don't like people riding my coat-tails."

"Oh?" Kai raised an eyebrow, deciding the tease the other woman. He had seen how lost and down she was when he had walked through the door, despite the haze of anger that had blazed inside the blonde when he saw the man beside Ray try to touch her. "What if I wanted to perform with you?"

Ray giggled a bit. "Well, you'll just have to get better before you can."

"A-HEM." Tomochin cleared her throat loudly. Honestly, if they continued on like this, EVERYBODY would know something was going on between the Diva and the smallest member of Persona. They were openly flirting with each other! Or at least Ray was, Kai seemed oblivious!

"What?" Kai blinked dumbly at Tomomi.

"I think we should go outside and take a look around." Tomochin suggested, rolling her eyes. There seemed to be more people outside, probably people arriving from the Three Sisters' set. "Maybe everybody's arrived."

"Alright." Kai shrugged, getting up. He held out his hands to the two women, ever the gentleman.

"What a gentleman!" Ray took Kai's hand, batting her eyelashes at him. The blonde didn't know if it was a combination of elation from finally finishing filming, the satisfaction he got from seeing the suit fuming at his familiarity with Ray or a combination of both... but Kai humoured Ray.

"M'lady." Kai replied jokingly. He grinned at Tomochin as she rolled her eyes at him, but the corner of her mouth was pulling up in a smile too, making her seem positively cat-like.

"When you smile like that, it's cute." Kai commented. "It looks like you have a little fang or something."

"That's, like, my charm point and you notice it NOW?" Tomochin shook her head, laughing a bit. Kai was just so... innocent it was hard to dislike him. "Nevermind. Come on."

The three left with Kai leading a girl on each arm with Hiro trailing them. Mako and Masa, seeing Ray leave the room, also left their posts to trail after Ray, discreetly spreading out to form a perimeter around the Diva.

"There once was a man named Riku-"

"Stop!" Kai could hear Riku growl as they got closer to the table that was slowly filling up with Three Sisters' people. Yuko's 'romantic' limericks were embarassing the hell out of the leader of Persona! The crew and everybody else who didn't know about the whole Riku/Yuko relationship thing thought Yuko was just joking around. The ones who knew gave Riku sympathetic looks.

"What is SHE doing here?" Ray spotted Maeda right away, talking with some people a bit further away from them. Even though she could barely stand without swaying, she still had enough in her to glare at Maeda.

"Ray," Kai tsked. "Be nice."

"I got it." Tomochi took hold of Ray, who protested as she was dragged off Kai and the blonde was pulled away by some crewmembers to drink with them.

"I'm underage!" The protest came from all three members of Persona from wherever they were in the room. Their manager and Marilyn helped the boys out too, reminding the pushier guys that the boys WERE underage and they wouldn't be drinking. Yuko, however, had a beer in hand and was cheerfully having a drinking competition with a cameraman in another section of the restaurant while a crowd had gathered around their low-style table to cheer them on.

"Yuko!" Riku was at the actress' side now, unable to stop himself from chastising her.

"Come on, 'Ruki'." Yuko slammed her mug down and addressed the young man by his drama name. "Live a little!"

"You're gonna pickle your liver." Riku grumbled and sat beside her, resolved to stop Yuko when she couldn't handle any more. Kuu and Mariko were meanwhile trying to out-eat each other as food was brought to the tables.

"Curry?" Kuu wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Ew. You're like, the ugly curry woman who stinks of curry."

"SHUT. UP." Mariko growled, while shovelling her favourite food in her mouth. "You... aren't better... gyoza-breath."

"YOU LEAVE MY GYOZAS ALONE!" Spraying food everywhere in a disgustingly heated battle of words, everybody tried to avoid these two. Kai had made his rounds and was sitting on the other side of Yuko, slapping the table in enthusiasm, joining the crowd in urging on Yuko and her competitor.

"Nondenondenonde, NON-DE!" Kai joined in on the cheers and though he was completely sober, he was having so much fun watching Yuko slam another empty mug down on the table while her opponent was desperately trying to chug down the last of his beer.

"CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!" Yuko struck a pose. Thunderous applause greeted her, Riku was not able to join in as he was busy face-palming.

"Mayu." Riku turned to the girl next to him. "Mayu, why is my girlfriend an idiot?"

"Girlfriend?" Mayu looked at Riku curiously, who blanched and glanced around nervously. Only Mayu had heard him.

"No. Not girlfriend like GIRLFRIEND." Riku tried to cover for himself. "But like... a friend who's a girl. Yeah. A friend who is a girl!"

"But then you would just say 'friend', right?" Mayu sipped at her non-alcoholic punch, enjoying making Riku squirm. The little girl sort of got why Yuko liked Riku so much. He was so much fun to tease!

"Kaiiii..." A space had cleared beside the blonde and Ray sat herself down in it, pouting. She had finally managed to free herself from Tomochin by tossing her at Kasai and went looking for her boyfriend. Finding him having fun without her was slightly upsetting.

"Ray, come on!" Caught up in the excitement of the moment, Kai pulled Ray closer. "Pin Pon Pan! Lets play!"

"What? What is that?" Ray was taken by surprise as people all agreed and welcomed her excitedly. Ray had never played a drinking game in her life, even though she was of drinking age. Plus the fact that she was slightly drunk... playing a game seemed overwhelming.

"Here, I'll teach you." Kai, funny enough, knew quite a bit about drinking games though he didn't drink at all... except for that one time at Fast Club which he would rather forget.

Soon enough, Ray was giggling along, playing Pin Pon Pan. Her bodyguards watched in awe as Kai effortlessly erradicated the cold and cruel princess, jaded by the music industry... to something Hiro thought he had seen deep in the Diva back when he had first started as Ray's bodyguard and she still retained some of her innocence.

"Look at you," Hiro shook his head, grinning at the scene. It warmed his heart to see his charge laughing so readily and actually ASSOCIATING with people. "Just look at you now."

Ray was having a lot of fun. She had begged out of the game after a while, since she just couldn't seem to keep up; she was giggling so much. Kai had ordered sticks of yakitori for her and other food stuff, stuff that she either liked or liked immediately after trying it. She looked over at the blonde lovingly, who was now engaged in conversation with Riku about something or other.

The way he smiled, the way he talked and gestured with his hands... Kai was amazing. He was-her thoughts were interrupted when, at the corner of her vision, she saw Maeda at the entrance to this area. When she turned to look... Ray could see Maeda looking at Kai with a fond expression that the Diva did not like at all. Atsuko stopped, though, when she noticed Ray watching her and left. Ray watched her for a while, fuming. She needed to talk to Atsuko again, it seemed. She wanted this girl to BACK OFF.

Ray finally saw her chance when, after a few minutes, she noticed Atsuko heading down the hallway leading to the washrooms.

"Hey, where are you going?" Kai looked up when he felt Ray stand up. He still felt slightly ill at ease after seeing that suit practically drooling on the Diva like a piece of meat.

"Washroom." Ray smiled, squeezing Kai's shoulder once before leaving. Masa and Mako had been waiting outside the area for her and flanked her immediately as she slipped on her heels that she had taken off to go sit with Kai.

"Ma'am," Masa held out a hand to steady the drunken Ray but she waved it away. Hiro, who had been standing in the corner gave the other guards a look and they immediately backed away to give her more space. With as much dignity as possible, Ray strolled to the women's toilet, entering to see Maeda at a sink, washing her hands. Ray walked over to the sink next to Atsuko, washing her hands quickly too before meeting Atsuko's eyes in the mirror.

"He's mine." Ray said, her voice harsh and ugly. "Stay away from him, or so help me... I'll do something I probably won't regret."

Maeda Atsuko shook excess water off her hands, tilting her head to the side curiously. And there was almost... a look of pity in her eyes.

"You really like him, don't you?"

"I love him." Ray replied, her voice cracking a bit from the emotions she felt behind those words. She truly, truly did. She loved Kai and she didn't know why, didn't know how she had fallen for him so fast. But she had and all she wanted was for him to love her...

"You don't know a thing about him. What if later on your find out he's not the person you thought he was?"

"That doesn't matter." Ray shook her head. "There's nothing I can learn about him that will ever change how I feel about him."

Atsuko was slightly impressed, but saddened by Ray's admission. Nothing...? Well. Ray was just setting herself up for a fall. And Kai... Kai would not like this conversation they were having.

"You think just because you say he's yours, he'll just accept that?" Ray didn't like the look in Atsuko's eyes as the actress talked to her. "He's his own person. If you try to bully his friends, if you try to keep him all to yourself, he won't have that. I'll admit it: I wanted to keep him all to myself too." Atsuko held up a hand to stop Ray from saying whatever she was about to say. "He's my friend. That's all. It's not what you think. People keep misunderstanding what we are, but really, we're just very good friends."

Ray studied the quiet actress carefully and she could tell that Atsuko was telling the truth. Ray finally relaxed, feeling this indescribable weight lifting off her shoulder. She was so relieved, she wanted to cry. But the Diva never cried and she held in her emotions admirably.

"Kai is Kai. I understand where you're coming from, but you have to understand he won't like it if you... do this." Atsuko explained clumsily, motioning back and forth between the two of them. "He'll get angry, like how he was angry with me when, I, um, slapped you. I'd like to apologize for that, too."

After Atsuko's speech, there was a long silence; Ray seemed to be having an internal struggle.

"I'll..." Ray wrestled with her pride, wanting to scream at Atsuko to mind her own business. But this had to do with Kai. Ray would sacrifice her pride for Kai. There was little she wouldn't do for the blonde. "I'll try."

Atsuko, who had actually been really afraid of how Ray was going to react, gave the songstress a beautiful, relieved smile. "That's good."

"And," Ray drew herself up. "I accept your apology. I was angry before."

Atsuko nodded, knowing she wasn't going to get an apology from Ray for starting the fight in the first place.

"Come on." Ray headed to the door. "People must be missing us."

Kai was surprised when Ray and Atsuko came back and sat down on either side of him, surprised that they weren't at each other's throat.

"You girls okay?" He frowned.

"We're fine." Atsuko assured the blonde with a smile. He looked between the two of them, unsure. But when he felt no tension, he relaxed and nodded, thoroughly pleased whatever it was that had been between them, they had worked out.

"Good, good. Come on, Acchan, Ray, you gotta play this game!"

* * *

"When will I get to see you again?" Yuko was crying, tears and snot covering her face as she stared at Riku in sorrow. They were all at the airport, all of them waiting for different flights. Their managers had gone off to get their itineraries and the actresses and Persona were waiting in the executive lounge. Kasai and Tomochin were there too, having sneaked in with the group.

"Probably not for a long time." Riku crossed his arms, scowling at the actress. He was still angry! And plus, last night Yuko had managed to spill several drinks on him 'accidentally' while leering at his chest. Did Yuko WANT to expose his identity to the world?

"But you'll mail me everyday, right?" Yuko flipped open her phone, showing Riku her wallpaper... a headshot of Riku sleeping, face pressed against Yuko's who had her lips puckered up, kissing the side of Riku's mouth. With the camera angle, Riku and Yuko looked naked from the neck down.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?" Riku hissed, pulling Yuko aside.

"Do you want a copy?" Yuko brightened up. "I took it when you slept over that one time!"

While Riku exploded at Yuko, Kai was giggling with Atsuko on a couch, laughing together about something. They were relaxed and carefree, spending as much time as they could with each other. They had agreed to try and keep in touch as much as they can and had already agreed to meet on a day off some time in the future to catch up.

Kuu and Mariko were a different matter all together. They sat beside each other, not looking too good at all. Their food competition last night had ended in both of them mixing god-knows-what in their stomach and feeling the effects of it all right now.

"I... hate... you..." Mariko gurgled, bottle of water in one hand. She still felt full.

"Not as much..." Kuu wheezed. "As I... hate... you..."

"I hate you more... than... elevators..."

"I hate you more than... perverted... producers..." Kuu growled back.

"Guys, shut uppppppp!" Tomochin groaned. She had stayed up late, trying to get Kasai to stop drinking. The writer had been so happy the Okinawa arc was finished she had tried to compete with Yuko in the drinking competition. Of course, it didn't end well and now Kasai was dead weight on her arm. "If she wakes up because of you fools, I will KILL the both of you."

The two combatants shut up now and Kuu slowly slid until he was leaning his head on Mariko's shoulder.

"I'm just... too tired... to move." Kuu explained.

Mariko leaned her head on top of Kuu's. "I'm... too sick... to move."

"Shut up." Tomochin shot them another look. When they finally did, she took out her cellphone to take a look at her messages. Ray had sent her a message.

_safe trip. see you next time._

Tomochin smiled. It was a pretty good message, coming from Ray. It was a softer side of Ray. The hair-and-make-up artist knew that that fight they had... Ray would never have 'apologized' with an apology gift. Ever. She would've ignored it and Tomomi would've had to make up for it in some way, even if it wasn't her fault. Itano Tomomi let Ray get away with a lot, but the pretty woman was sure this time, if Ray hadn't 'apologized' with her gift, Tomomi wouldn't have ever contacted Ray again. Itano Tomomi did have her pride.

'What the HELL does she see in that shrimp?' Tomomi thought again as she spotted Kai laughing uproariously at something. She was certain it had been Kai who had encouraged the Diva to reach out to Tomomi first. Even Atsuko, reserved and quiet Atsuko, had changed. She was, at the moment, hitting Kai, thoroughly scandalized about something but grinning at whatever he had said. He was still laughing but had curled up into a ball, trying to avoid Atsuko's fists of fury. Kai had changed the both of these women and Tomomi would have to grudgingly say, for the better.

'Well, whatever. As long as everyone's happy, it's fine.' Tomochin shrugged mentally.

"Chiyuuuu..." Kasai sighed in her sleep as she continued sleeping off the effects of alcohol.

"You are STRANGE." Tomochin rolled her eyes at Kasai while typing back a reply to Ray. The Diva had left in the morning, taking an earlier flight than the rest of them. Before she had left though, she had gone to Kai's room, woken him up with her insistent knocking (which had woken up Tomomi and brought her to the hallway to spy on them) and said a very cute good-bye to 'her' Kai. She had been blushing and everything, her shyness was just ADORABLE and she had tried to be sneaky and grab Kai's hand to hold without the blonde noticing. Of course, he noticed, but he just swung her hands from side to side to amuse her. Ray had even leaned forward and stolen a kiss from a barely awake Kai. It had been hilarious seeing the blonde sputtering in embarassment.

Even after being caught by Ray's surprise attack, Kai had been nice. He had even promised to make time to teach her to properly swim when they both had time.

_coffee next time? btw don't kiss kai in the hallways. people might see._

Tomomi sent the message to Ray, knowing that Ray would read it once she was back in Tokyo and off the airplane. The Diva might not be concerned about her image, but Tomochin was. It only took a little stupid picture or a leak to the papparazzi to start a scandal.

"Time to go!" Saeko entered the lounge and announced. Persona had an earlier flight than the Three Sisters' actresses and staff.

"Awwww..." Yuko pouted, looking like she was about to start a new bout of tears. Riku had managed to convince Yuko to delete that picture of him sleeping and was currently waiting for a picture Riku was going to send in exchange for the deletion of the picture on Yuko's phone.

"There." Riku was shaking his head in amazement at how... how devious Yuko could be.

"Got it." Yuko grinned as she checked the picture. A picture of Asahi was worth a lot more to her. "And there. Deleted."

"Well," Kuu groaned, getting up slowly. "It's good that I don't have your number or your email, then I can't call or mail you."

Mariko glared up at the young man. "I'm glad I don't have yours either. Only popular people know my email. If you were popular, you would know my email is mariko underscore sama at some phone company ending!"

Kuu whipped out his cellphone. "I don't want your stupid contact details! How dare you tell it to me! In retaliation, I'm going to send you my email and phone number by infra-red! I hope you get cancer form the infra-red!"

"STUPID!" Mariko took out her cellphone to turn on her IR. "People can't get cancer from infra-red rays! See! I received your contact details without any harmful side-effects! I'll send mine so you can experience first-hand how safe IR is!"

Riku rolled his eyes at Kuu and Mariko, they were just... strange. Of all the 'couples' that had come out of this Okinawa trip, Kuu and Mariko were the strangest.

"Don't ever call me, you... you stupid jerk!" Mariko slung abuses at Kuu.

"I wouldn't call someone so old!" Kuu jeered back. "And don't you call me! I don't want people knowing I associate with dinosaurs!"

"I don't want people to know I know someone who looks like Gachapin!" Mariko and Kuu were now just yelling nonsense at each other now while everybody looked on. Then, as if by some invisible trigger, both of them started crying and hugging each other all of a sudden.

"What the hellllll..." Tomochin watched as the two 'enemies' bawled in each other's arms.

"Tomochinnnn..." Kasai woke up, grumbling. "It's loud."

"Shhh," Tomochin pressed a hand against Kasai's face. "Just go back to sleep. This much stupidity is bad for you, you're stupid enough as is."

"I guess they'll be missing each other." Atsuko watched in amusement as Kuu and Mariko hugged it out while STILL slinging insulting nicknames like 'curry-breath' and 'lizard-face' at each other.

"Yeah. It kinda sucks that we're not all gonna get together like this again..." Kai did feel a bit down. Last night, Mayu had already said her good-byes, telling them that she was flying out really early. Some of the crew had left too, since they had work waiting for them back in Tokyo. Atsuko didn't say anything and just hugged Kai real tight, the blonde returning the hug just as fervently. Yuko, seeing everybody was hugging, latched on to Riku immediately.

"Alright," Saeko rolled her eyes. If this was what had been going on all week, she was glad she took a break with Marilyn and Megumi. She was thankful there was nobody inside this lounge except them. "Lets go, boys. Megumi, be good, okay?"

Saeko accepted a hug from the buxom manager of the Three Sisters' actresses.

"Be careful." Megumi warned. Sarukawa wasn't someone to be messed with and of course, EVERYBODY saw how Ray was with Kai. Megumi knew the people that worked on Three Sisters and knew they would be discreet... but still... the more people knew... "If he knew Ray and Kai-"

"Don't worry, this actually works to our advantage." Saeko smiled. Saeko had heard that the Diva had actually ordered her manager to not touch the boys. If Sarukawa tried anything funny, Ray would definitely investigate and Saeko would most DEFINITELY leak information to Ray about her manager's involvement.

Ray's shadow would keep them safe. It was a thin line they were treading, though. Having a newbie get together with Japan's number one idol would ruffle more than Sarukawa's feathers. The fans would probably not like it if news about Kai and Ray's sorta relationship came out.

"The boys can take care of themselves." Marilyn assured both managers. "And we'll watch out for them too, of course."

* * *

"You did very well." Ray nodded at Mayu. The young girl smiled, in a comfortable looking sky-blue hoodie with fur on the inside of the jacket. Ray's bodyguards sat around her and the other first class seats around Japan's number one had no occupants since not many people flew as early as Ray did.

"Thank you, boss." Mayu gave a small bow.

"Your pay." Ray placed a thick white envelope on the armrest of her seat. Mayu took it and carefully put it into a hidden pocket in her hoodie, trusting the celebrity to give her the correct amount.

"That last bit of information you gave me..."

"Has been destroyed, boss." Mayu had done exactly as Ray had said. Persona's identity would be safe. Saeko and Marilyn had done a really good job at hiding Persona's true identity... but Mayu had taken a good close look at them.

All three of them didn't have adam's apples. Oh, they were really good at pretending to be guys, but certain things gave them away. Ray hadn't believed her at first, but Mayu had done her research. Marilyn and Saeko did a really good job at hiding Persona's identity and anybody who looked wouldn't have dug deeper. But Mayu had found a tiny marker sent out to almost all the people in charge of auditioning prospective talents, asking them to keep a look out for these two girls... Mayu hadn't made the connection until she saw the photos accompanying the alert.

Wakamatsu Asahi.

Kawachi Nami.

They might be in disguise now but putting their pictures side by side, the resemblance between the two girls and the two boys of Persona was unmistakable. Mayu had found that the most recent auditions they had was also the only one they had together... and in that audition, one, Otawa Hinata was also present. And Miss Otawa had an uncanny resemblance to Kuu.

Mayu had presented these pictures to Ray and the Diva had gone through them quickly, throwing Hinata's and Asahi's aside and staring at Nami's for the longest time. Then Ray had told Mayu to cover Persona's trail and make sure that nobody ever connected these girls to Persona.

Really, nothing Ray could learn about her Kai would change how she felt about him. Or, evidently, HER. Finding out something like this should've shocked a normal person. But Ray hadn't felt any shock whatsoever and just a sort of 'oh, that's why he looks so cute' reaction. Things about Kai made so much sense now! How soft his skin was, how his eyelashes were so girlishly long...

"Boss, it was a pleasure working for you." Mayu interrupted Ray's fantasies, gaving a low bow and was about to head back to economy class when Ray held up a hand to stop her.

"Give him your boarding pass." Ray motioned to Masa, who had stood up as Ray called him softly. "Tell him what your carry-on luggage looks like. He'll bring it up and you can sit here."

Mayu did so and sat across the aisle from Ray, watching the idol warily.

"I'd like to keep you on." Ray took a sip of the juice she had in the tray in front of her. "Would you agree to keep working for me?"

"Boss, though I'd love to, I have school-"

"I'll keep you on a retainer." Ray interrupted Mayu as if she hadn't spoken. "I know you can't work for me when you're in school, this retainer fee is just to keep you until the times you can. I'm asking for nothing more except that your services remain exclusively mine. When you're not in school, you immediately return to active service and work for me."

"Miss." Hiro leaned over and passed Mayu a piece of paper. Mayu raised an eyebrow at the number. This amount was nothing compared to the lump sum she got for one of her summer engagements, it was basically just the salary of a new graduate with a general degree... but to do nothing except remain exclusive... nobody had offered her that. And to have a steady income during the year... it would help her a lot.

"That, is a monthly sum. It's not much, but I expect it's better than making nothing every month." Ray sat back and closed her eyes. She was tired. As soon as the plane landed, she had lots of work to do. Ray wished this week had lasted forever.

"You're worried that I might sell the information I know to the highest bidder?" Mayu raised an eyebrow and Ray gave a small smile.

"Smart girl. I know you won't, your track record says you're very professional and you never try to double-cross your employers. But, I want to make sure."

"I wouldn't even if you didn't give me this money." Mayu had to catch herself from saying 'because they're my friends'. In her profession, she had no friends. Just her boss.

"So humour me. Continue working for me and you continue getting money." When Mayu didn't say anything, Ray opened her eyes a little to study the girl. "If your... work ethics won't let you take money for free, how about this: You keep an eye on any information about Kai and me. Squash any rumours before it comes to light."

Ray wouldn't have cared if the whole world knew, but she knew Kai would care. He had said so time and time again and she wanted to please him so much.

"No romance scandals for Ray." Ray smiled wryly, remembering Kai's words.

Mayu sat quietly and thought about the proposal. It was, really, too good of a deal to pass up.

"I accept." Mayu smiled, her little closed-mouth smile that always looked like it didn't really reach her eyes. "Boss."

Ray nodded, taking something from the large purse she kept at her feet. She placed a box on her armrest, then reclined her seat back for the flight.

"A welcome gift." Ray said simply as she closed her window cover and placed an eyemask over her eyes. Mayu reached forward and took the box, opening it up to see that it was a brand new Samsung Galaxy S protected by a black hard case. On the back of the case, engraved in the corner was a cute little mouse.

* * *

endnote: A lot of things happened this chapter. Holy crap. I stuffed it all into one big thing. Sorry this took so long, folks. I'll try to be quicker next time. Galaxy S is awesome and kills iphone ANY DAY of the week. GO DROID! And for all you takacchan fans... sorry. But I'm not really. lol. There's enough takacchan out there and RayxNami fics are pretty far and few in between. :P You know where I stand in this war! :D Sorry, after going through a lot of takacchan stuff on the takamina thread in S48, I figured that I had to balance the scales a bit. Y'all brought this on yourselves. Ahahaha... pleasedon'tkillme.

And before you guys point it out to me, yes, I know Ray is a lot more intelligent in this re-imagining of her. I feel that you don't get to be as petty and bitchy as Ray without being just a little bit smart.


	19. Chapter 19

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 19

author's note: Well, after the Okinawan arc, this should be a bit slower paced. DUN DUN DUN! What's this chapter about? Well, read on, my dearests. Read on. I love your reviews and I do agree with some of you on how abruptly I ended Atsuko and Kai's relationship. Ended it just like that. ... Or did I? End it, that is?

MWA HAH HAHA. Only time will tell.

And brief note, Obon is a festival in Japan to honour the departed. Sorta like the Day of the Dead in Mexico. Families come together to celebrate their ancestors. Wiki, it, guys. Wikipedia is so awesome.

* * *

"We have a problem." Saeko frowned. They had only been back from Okinawa for a day and already there was a problem?

"What'd we do?" Persona asked in sync, trepidition in their voice. As soon as they got back, Saeko had whipped their asses good for various offenses during the Okinawa trip. Their butts were still sore.

"You three didn't do anything..." Saeko gave them a look. "...YET. But it's your parents."

"Our parents?" The three perked up.

"They've been wondering where you've been. They want to see you three." Saeko glared at them, as if it was completely their fault that they had caring parents. "I can't believe you three actually have people who are worried about you."

"Hey! People worry about us!" Kuu pouted. "My mommy and daddy love me."

"Mommy and daddy?" Kai giggled and pinched Kuu's cheek. "Aw, aren't you so cute! Would you like a bottle, baby? Would baby like some omnomnom?"

"I'm not a baby." Kuu pouted as Riku attacked his other cheek and started making nonsense baby-noises.

"Stop that!" Saeko snapped. The three boys stood at attention, sweating a bit. "Now... how am I going to do this... I know there are people looking for you... But I promised all of your parents you'll be back this week for the Obon festival..."

Persona, as a group, sobered up as they remembered quickly about the snake-guys after two of their three member group. Saeko knew there were still people looking for them. Dangerous men, from the looks of it. They hadn't stopped either, Saeko had seen them hanging around the studio and talking to staff. It was curious, though... right after the Okinawan trip, these men in dark suits were coming up against a lot of problems getting into the studio and moving around freely. The passes they had been given seemed to have expired and warning flags had popped up to bar them from getting in and asking questions... it seemed someone was trying to keep them out of TV Tohto.

That was good news, but if the boys had to go home, TV Tohto's security personnel couldn't help them there...

"If only we had like, doubles who could like, distract people so we could go home..." Riku said wistfully. The boys had been watching an anime last night that had a character who had a double to distract people looking for him...

Marilyn and Saeko exchanged a look. Then they smiled. Some times, these boys came up with some good ideas without knowing it.

"Marilyn, find someone who can help us with that." Saeko smiled at her boys. "Boys. It's time you go home."

* * *

"Seems like our girls have shown up again." Kuroda, put down his phone and talked to his lackies. One of the staff working auditions told him the girls' applications for auditions had come through. They were going to TV Tohto again. And Kuroda would be there to catch them.

He needed that purupuru toy.

* * *

"Tadaima." Asahi walked into her house, slipping her shoes off. Just in case there were people casing her house, Saeko had recommended that Nami and Asahi try to wear things that were more... not their style. So Asahi was in casual wear with her hair tucked under a wool cap, looking very much indistinguishable from her brother. Speaking of her brother... she could hear him pounding down the steps.

"Okaeri!" He ran all the way to the bottom and stood in front of his sister, grinning. He looked very much like his sister, except male. Even though he was younger, puberty had hit and he was darker, taller, bigger and less delicate looking than Asahi. He had a passing resemblance to Riku, but not one that would get him stopped on the streets. His hair was getting kinda shaggy since she last saw him, since he was trying to grow it out. Her mother had told Asahi that Kouhei was spending more time styling his hair than doing his homework.

"Hey, Kouhei." Asahi grinned at her brother who grabbed at her arm awkwardly. Since Kouhei had started growing up, he had become more distant with his sister, a change from when he was younger and used to follow her around like a little puppy.

"You don't have to keep acting cool when you're in the house." Asahi scowled at him. "Give me a hug."

Kouhei gave his sister a brief, tight hug before pulling her further into the house. "Dad'll be home soon, he just went out to pick up something. Come on, mom's been on a cooking frenzy since she heard you were coming back!"

The kitchen smelled of something good as they entered and Asahi was suddenly hit with a bout of homesickness. Though Marilyn's cooking was good, nothing beat good ol' home cooking from mama Wakamatsu.

"ASAHI!" Mama Wakamatsu threw her spatula in the air in surprise when she saw her eldest.

"MAMA!" Asahi would not be caught dead calling her mother 'mama' in front of Nami and Hinata. She would NEVER live it down. "I miss you!"

Hugging, they danced around chanting, "I miss you, I miss you!"

Kouhei had joined the mix, hugging the women in his family and dancing and chanting with them happily. Asahi was a well-balanced child with a loving home and family and they accounted for her well-balanced personality.

"So how's my wonderful little idol?" Mama Wakamatsu turned off the heat on whatever was cooking on the stove. "I saw you on TV the other day and you just look soooo handsome! How are Kai and Kuu? That Kuu is a little cutie, isn't he?"

Asahi never hid anything from her family and they all knew what she was doing and supported her one hundred and ten percent. Of course, Asahi didn't tell Saeko-shachou that her family knew that she was Riku. What shachou didn't know meant Asahi couldn't get whipped for it! Of course, she had told Hinata and Nami about this which prompted Hinata to confess she had also told her parents. Nami was the only who hadn't said anything to anyone outside of people involved with Persona.

"I saw a gossip rag talking about your trip to Okinawa." Kouhei picked at some carrots her mother had chopped up and dodged his mother's swat. "Is Mariko-sama as good-looking in person as on tv?"

It felt like Okinawa was really long ago, when really, it had just been yesterday. Asahi missed the people she had worked with and, even though she was loath to even THINK it... she missed Yuko a bit too.

"Stop reading those gossip magazines. But to answer your question, yes, Mariko's really pretty." Asahi giggled a bit, remembering Mariko and Kuu's little battles. "But way different from how she's portrayed on TV. You think she's really stuck up, but she's not. Mariko's really down-to-earth and she looks out for her friends."

"I can't believe you got to hang out with the hottest girls on tv right now." Kouhei groaned. "What about Atsuko? Tell me about her!"

"She's really cute. Kind of really shy... at first glance, you think she's kind of stuck-up too just because she always has a bored expression on her face, but really she's the sweetest girl." Asahi remembered how Atsuko and Kai would always be together, giggling. "Was there anything in the gossip magazines about Kai? Like romance scandal-wise?"

"Oh, let me get you some stuff I saved up, they had a whole page talking about Okinawa and Persona and the Three Sisters' main actresses." Kouhei was off like a shot and back with a newspaper and a couple of magazines featuring Persona and the three main actresses of Three Sisters. Even though the magazine hinted at the boys being really good friends with the girls and MAYBE more, there didn't seem to be anything scandalous in the special. There were some really good photos of the waterfight they had and speculation on the Three Sisters' Okinawan story arc, but that was it. What struck Asahi too was that Ray was featured a bit, but the tone of the article was very respectful and the reporters writing these stories seemed... careful when writing about Ray.

"There was something about Kai and some make-up artist on the Three Sisters' set. Just a little blurb, really." Kouhei's eyes widened. "So is that true?"

"If they're talking about Tomochin or Mayuyu, they've got it all wrong." Asahi shook her head, handing the magazine back to her brother. "But there was a little romance thing going on between Kai and Atsuko."

"Oh my god, is Kai an 'L'?" Kouhei gaped, suddenly remembering that Kai was, in actuality, a girl. "And didn't you say last time Ray and Kai sorta have a thing? Didn't Ray go to Okinawa too?"

"Don't ever mention 'L's in front of Kai. I don't know what's going on with Nami." Asahi rolled her eyes. "She seems to be getting all the girls. And no, Atsuko and her are just really good friends. And Ray sorta just followed Kai to Okinawa."

"That's so cute!" Mama Wakamatsu cooed. "Don't you think so? I know," Asahi's mother raised a hand to stop her daughter from saying anything, "That you say that the charismatic Diva is spoiled and has a really bad personality... but I feel like all she needs is a little love."

"Mom," Asahi sighed. "You think the best of everyone."

"But so Kai-"

"Doesn't like Ray like that." Asahi slapped her brother on the arm. "Honestly, you're as bad as a common housewife when it comes to celebrity gossip!"

"Us common housewives need something to entertain us when we're at home." Mama Wakamatsu crossed her arms and glared at her child.

"Hey, you know you should invite Kai and Kuu here." Kouhei was nearly dancing with excitement. "They're so cool, man! Kai's like, always ready for a fight. He looks dangerous even though he's so small! Is he like, part of a Yakuza family? There was talk that he was! And Kuu, he's like, so damn smooth! I sorta like how he has those highlights in hair, too bad I can't dye my hair-"

"Smooth?" Asahi blinked. Was that how people saw Kuu?

"He's always like, you know, relaxed and chill." Kouhei crossed his arms across his chest. "Like he's always thinking of something deep."

Asahi burst out laughing at the image Kouhei had of Kuu. Really? All the times Asahi could remember of Hinata was of the girl complaining about being hungry or sleepy, or talking excitedly about the different kinds of clothes she was going to wear that day as Kuu... or thinking about weird things and giggling to herself. That last bit was a little scary. But then Kuu was pretty intense when he was in the music studio doing music. The secret lolita in Persona looked pretty awesome when he was focusing on his work.

"He can be cool when he wants to be." Asahi smiled fondly. She sorta missed Hinata. And Nami. What were they doing now? "And hey, what about Riku?"

Kouhei made a face. "You're my older sister." At Asahi's wounded look, Kouhei tried to back-pedal. "Well... you're... okay too. I mean, you're not horrible. Maybe a little bit cool-"

"Oh, Kouhei, just tell your sister." Mama Wakamatsu rolled her eyes at her youngest child. "He's so proud of you. He watches your '3 Seconds' performance on TV and he-"

"Mom!" Kouhei hissed. His mom was going to embarass him to death!

"-learned all the dance steps!" Mama Wakamatsu was giggling as Kouhei tried to push her out of the kitchen. "He has that song as his ringtone!"

They all had a good laugh and even Kouhei had to laugh at how funny it was. So this was how it felt to have a celebrity in your family... it was fun.

"Oh, and what about Yuko?" Kouhei had a hand over his heart. "That girl gets me right there when I see her dimples."

"Ew." Asahi made a face. "Oshima Yuko? She's a weirdo."

"What? No! You lie! She's not a weirdo, you're lying! She's so cute!" Kouhei pestered his sister. "She's a pretty good actress too! If I were to date someone, I'd totally date her!"

"Ugh." Asahi shuddered. Yuko was a menace! Sure, Yuko could be sweet some times, like the times she helped Asahi out with her script... or when she had a hangover and Yuko was tripping over herself to get Asahi hangover cures. Or the way she had thoroughly embarassed herself, reciting stupid poems and limericks to Riku. Riku had been embarassed, of course, but he hadn't missed how Yuko put her own dignity on the line when she was desperately trying to get Riku's attention with her ridiculousness.

Asahi's thoughts were interrupted by her phone chirping out a tone. A mail?

_Nyan-nyannnnn... I miss sleeping with you! Can you send me a sexy photo? I miss youuuu. i wish the okinawa trip had lasted forever! I LOVE YOU xoxoxoxoxoxox xxxxxx xxx XXX mwa hahah. get it? XXX? *evil face* *heart*_

'She TOTALLY thinks I'm not mad at her anymore!' Asahi was flabbergasted at Yuko's stupidity. 'She ACTUALLY thinks everything is okay already!'

"WHAT HAPPENED IN OKINAWA?" Mama Wakamatsu had been reading her daughter's mail over her shoulder and unsurprisingly, was freaking out. "WHO IS THAT?"

* * *

"Welcome home, Hinata." Her parents received her at the door and Hinata accepted hugs from them as soon as she walked in. Her house was in a pretty good neighbourhood and reeked of sophistication only money could buy. Hinata was well off. Her family's house was huge, compared to regular Japanese families. The Otawas had invested well and even when the bubble burst, they hadn't suffered at all.

Hinata, for her trip home, was decked out in a beautiful velvet red dress with a white petticoat, a matching heart-shaped purse, her favourite bonnet and a pair of rocking horse shoes. Unlike Asahi and Nami, she wasn't being chased so didn't have any fashion restrictions.

"Or should I say, Kuu." Mommy Otawa teased. Even though Saeko-shachou hadn't said anything, Hinata had of course, told her parents what she had been doing. They were very understanding and had only called Saeko to try to bring their only daughter home for Obon.

"Moooooommmmmy..." Hinata whined. She hoped her mom didn't tell everyone!

"Oh, come on, dear." Hinata's mother winked at her daughter. "I'm just having fun with you. Don't worry, I haven't told ANYONE about your new job."

"It's true. You know your mother and I keeps secrets really well. Come on, your aunties and uncles are all here and I'm sure they want to see you. We'll leave your bags here and get them later." Daddy Otawa grinned at his daughter, happy to have her back for this festival. They herded her into their living room and Hinata was immediately greeted by several aunts and uncles. Well, they weren't related by blood... her father had one brother, but he lived in Vancouver. Her parents did a lot of jet-setting around the world, so they met a lot of people. These people in the room were just close friends of the family.

"Hinata!" A rather small caucasian woman, someone Hinata's mom and dad had met in New Zealand when they were young. Lisa spread out her arms to welcome Hinata, the freckles on her face standing out cutely as her nose wrinkled in a smile. Lisa spoke perfect Japanese after living in the country for so long. "Your parents told us you had a part-time job and you weren't going to join us!"

"Auntie Lisa." Hinata greeted politely, grinning at the New Zealander who kissed her on both cheeks.

"Look at you, all grown up." Lisa touched the bit of lace at Hinata's throat. "And you still look like a doll. You look so cute!"

"Do you like it?" Hinata asked shyly. Lisa's opinion DID matter to her.

"It's very Japanese." Lisa grinned. Hinata's life had always been filled with aunties and uncles, so she wasn't always that lonely. There was always someone passing by who would fill Hinata's days. Auntie Lisa lived in the area and had been in Japan for quite a while, so she was always over. Throughout her childhood, Lisa had been around even when her parents were running aorund the world. At times, when her home tutors needed to talk to a guardian, Lisa was there to stand in for her parents.

"So what have you been doing lately?" Lisa asked, genuinely interested in what Hinata was up to. "Your parents have told me you're working with some people in music, and you're part-timing... but what do you do? I actually have a friend who works at Sunny Music."

"Oh?" Hinata perked up. This was interesting. She didn't know Auntie knew someone from Sunny Music!

"He plays the guitar, maybe, oh, you probably haven't met him." Lisa laughed. "He's just a musician."

An image was starting to form in Hinata's head...

"He's from New Zealand, too, and he's kind of short. His name is Paul-"

"AH!" Hinata let out an involuntary scream of surprise. Paul! His Auntie knew Paul!

"Oh, you know him?" Aunt Lisa looked surprised too.

"Oh, no!" Hinata tried to cover for herself. How could she explain to her auntie that she knew Paul? She would ask questions that Hinata didn't know how to answer! "No, Hinata is just... surprised that there's a foreigner working in Sunny Music."

"We're not all English teachers." Lisa chuckled. "You don't have to be THAT surprised."

"Don't monopolize her time, Lisa! Hinata, come say hi to your favourite uncle!" A Japanese man waved her over and Hinata went to him obediently. The room was full of people milling about, every one of them wanting to say hello to Hinata. She knew some of them well and some of them not so well. Everybody here was sort of family-less for the Obon holidays and like all the Obons past, the Otawas had graciously invited them to their homes. Hinata's grandparents on her mother's side lived all the way in Hokkaido and the family went up to visit only during the New Years' and her grandparents on her father's side lived in Vancouver with her uncle and she only saw them once in a while.

Food had been set out and Hinata wandered around while the adults talk, like a tumbleweed in an empty town. She was a lot younger so she didn't have much in common with the adults and after their initial greetings, they would be too caught up in talking with each other to notice her.

"-just think pop music isn't the best way to make money." Mr. Otawa sighed, talking to one of his friends. Hinata paused, eavesdropping. It was funny how, even in a frilly red dress, nobody really noticed her.

"Well, she is doing what she loves." Lisa was her father's conversation partner. She trusted her father to have come up with a good front for people. It wouldn't be good if EVERYONE knew she was Kuu.

"I was hoping music would develop her mathematical skills." Daddy Otawa sighed again. "She would make such a good accountant. Or maybe music would develop her business sense and she could take over. Of course, we'll have an inheritance for her-"

"You should be proud that she's trying to find her own path, though. You have some kids out there that just leech off their parents..."

Hinata wandered away before they noticed that she was around, feeling just a little bit angry. Her parents always encouraged her to do what she wanted... but she had always known that they didn't approve. Music didn't make money, they said. Being an idol was a waste of time. She should invest her time in things like MATH. Math was boring.

"Honey, do you want something to eat?" Her mother was by her side, leading her towards the kitchen. "I know you don't like the spread we have out for our guests, so," Her mother lowered her voice conspiratorially. "I made your favourite: fried prawns!"

Hinata smiled weakly at her mother and let the woman lead her to the kitchen. She knew her parents loved her and wanted the best for her... but she wanted to be an idol. She wanted to be on the same stage as Asahi and Nami, dancing and singing with her friends to an audience.

"Hinata!" A man she didn't know greeted her in the kitchen. He smiled at her kindly and gave a little bow. "I've heard so much about you!"

"Um," Hinata wanted to say 'Funny, I haven't heard a thing about you!' but kept her mouth shut.

"This is Abe-san, he has several law offices in Tokyo." Mrs. Otawa pointed to a platter of fried shrimp that was coincidentially, right beside Abe-san. "He wants to talk to you about a possible job next summer. You know, to get some experience. That is, after your part-time job, of course."

"It's not a part-time job." Hinata said grumpily. Her parents just weren't getting it!

"It's nice to see children have hobbies." The man smiled at Hinata's dress and she finally recognised that look in his eyes that she had mistook for kindness. Condescension. "But next summer, I'm sure you'll have a nice business outfit."

"You know, kids." Hinata's mother laughed a bit, arm looped in Hinata's. The girl wanted to pull away. Her parents kept thinking she was just playing around! She really wished Asahi and Nami were here now... she needed someone to save her from this kitchen. As if someone had heard her prayers, her phone started ringing.

"Oh!" Hinata exclaimed exagerratedly. "I have a phone call! EXcuuuuse meEEeeee!"

Hinata grabbed a couple of fried shrimps and escaped the kitchen.

"Moshi, moshi-"

"STUPID." A voice on the line squeaked out. "STUPID FAAAAAACE. GACHAPINNNNN."

Then, the line went dead.

"MARIKO." Hinata stared at her phone, gritting her teeth in chagrin. She called Mariko back immediately and her phone call was picked up on the first ring.

"DINOSAUR."

"Why, how rude!" Mariko fake-gasped. "Whatever did I do to get insults like that?"

"You called me first!" Hinata snapped.

"I did no such thing." Mariko lied blithely. "You must miss the sound of my voice already and you HAD to call me."

"No, YOU miss ME." Hinata hissed. "You miss me so much you gave me your email!"

"If I remember correctly," Mariko sounded amused. "You sent your info to me first."

"You received!"

"Only to show you that IR doesn't give you cancer!" Mariko pointed out. "Anyways, I have better things to do than to talk to Gachapin. Good bye."

"You're a fossil! A fossil!" Hinata shouted at the phone. Fuming, she tucked her phone back into the little heart-shaped purse she carried and looked up to find that all of her parents' guests were giving her weird looks.

"Uh... hahah." Hinata laughed weakly. "Uh... it was a telemarketer?"

* * *

Nami let out a deep breath as she stared up at her house. It was a small two-story kinda deal, too small to house all the people that it did.

"Okay." Nami steeled herself and took out the key to her house.

"Oi! Why are you dressed more like a boy than usual?" A voice behind her startled Nami and made her jump, she turned around to look up at her older brother, grinning down at her. Why the hell was she so short when the rest of her family was normal sized?

"Shouta, don't scare me like that." Nami scowled at her brother, who had his head shaved like all the rest of the jocks at school. Nami tugged at her baseball cap self-consciously. Saeko had made her wear Kai's casual clothes. All she needed was the wig to completely change into Kai. "Where's Ichiro?"

When Nami had mailed her mother to say she was coming back for a day or two, her mother had replied and told her that her eldest brother was supposed to be back for Obon, too. He was away from university but was taking some time to see the family.

"He's already here." Shouta shrugged. "He mailed me a while ago. We might go out to the batting cages, later. You wanna come later?"

"I haven't even gone in yet." Nami sighed. Shouta gave his sister a sidelong look.

"How's the idol biz? You know, when you're actually on, you should tell us. Mom thinks you're working as a hostess somewhere." Shouta grinned at his sister. Nami winced. Nobody in her family knew that she was Kai and she'd rather keep it that way. "She also thinks that you'd gotten pregnant so you were too ashamed to come back home."

"Like hell." Nami growled.

"That's what I said, too." Shouta grinned again, this time his eyes taking on a mischeivous light. "Who the hell would hire you as a hostess or even make bab-"

"Don't finish that sentence if you want to live." Nami warned. "What about Erena and Miho?"

"They should be back already." Shouta pushed his sister towards the house. "Erena's been missing you like crazy and I think you need to talk to Miho."

"What happened?" Nami entered the house, dreading the news. Miho had always been a bit of a firecracker, taking after Nami, actually. They both played rough with the boys and had few girl friends.

Her brother shrugged. "She got into a fight at school with some older boys."

"Oh no." Nami kicked off her shoes. "Is she alright?"

Shouta snorted. "Is SHE okay? You should be asking if those boys are okay." Shouta punched his fist into his open palm to emphasize his point. "She creamed them! Mom and dad got called in and mom's SO angry at Miho right now."

The smell of home hit Nami and even though sometimes she hated coming home, it was nice to be back. Even though she complained about the cramped quarters, it was cozy and gave her a sense of comfort.

"TADAIMA!" Nami and Shouta hollered. The sound of their voice reached certain ears in the house and they could hear two sets of feet running around upstairs and most likely coming towards them.

"There they are." Shouta shook his head as Erena and Miho appeared around the corner.

"NAMI!" They attacked their sister as one, talking a mile a minute and really, cutting off circulation in Nami's body with their bone-crushing hugs. Nami could barely make out what they were saying but caught a few 'I miss you's, 'where have you been's, 'are you staying long's and 'what did you get me's.

"So you finally decide to come home?" Their mother's voice made Nami's sister loosen their hold on the short girl for a bit. The head of the household, Mrs. Kawachi, stood there and smiled at her missing daughter. "And I thought that manager of yours was a kidnapper or something. Come here."

"Ma." Nami trudged forward with her sisters still on her arms and let her mom give her a hug, knowing if she didn't, she'd never hear the end of it.

"Your dad's not back yet, so put your stuff upstairs and help me in the kitchen." Mrs. Kawachi turned and headed back to the kitchen. "When he gets back, we'll go to your grandparents' graves and clean up a bit." She turned around though when she suddenly remember something, glaring at the young Miho on her older sister's arm. "You are still in trouble, young lady! Are you done your homework?"

"I'm doing it." Miho whined. "Can't I see my sister?"

Mrs. Kawachi rolled her eyes. "Fine. But after that I want you to march straight upstairs and finish it. Your dad will be very angry if you don't finish everything by the time he gets home, Miho."

Miho grumbled something under her breath. Shouta smacked the back of the little girl's head casually.

"Ow! Hey!" Miho glared up at her older brother.

"Be nice." Shouta warned.

"I'll show YOU nice," Miho, still grumbling, joined Erena in pulling Nami up the stairs to the room that the three of them shared. It was a small house, so the sisters shared one of the rooms while Ichiro was back. Usually Nami had her own room, which used to be Ichiro's before he went to university. Shouta had always had his own room since nobody could sleep with him because he had a snoring problem. Their parents slept downstairs on the main floor. As the sisters passed Nami's room, they could hear Ichiro, talking on the phone.

"He's talking with his girlfriend." Miho made a face. The girls had already, in their excitement, laid out the futons, putting three side by side. It had been a while since they'd slept in the same room as their older sister and they were sort of happy to have her around. It had been kind of quiet without Nami.

"Are you going to stay long?" Erena, the second youngest, asked anxiously.

"Have to go back to work tomorrow." Nami said regretfully. She didn't miss home that much, but she did miss her sisters.

"Boo! I want you to move back!" Miho bounced around, too excited to continue doing her homework. "Mom says you got pregnant so that's why you're not back!"

"Does it look like I'm pregnant?" Nami narrowed her eyes at Miho. Seeing her younger sisters grin at each other, Nami quickly held up a hand to stop them from saying whatever they were going to say.

"DON'T. Or the both of you are so going to get it." growled Nami. She was taking it back. She did not miss her sisters.

"Don't be mad." Erena was still attached to her sister's arm and Nami put an arm around Erena's shoulders reassuringly. Nami wasn't really one for physical affection, but her sisters demanded it. Over time, she had grown accustomed to their random glomps but anybody else touching her made her feel just a little bit closed in.

"We just miss you."

"I'm glad you have such a fine way of showing it." Nami replied drolly. "Really, you know how delicate I am. Your teasings hurt me."

Her sisters giggled. Their tough-as-nails older sister was anythin but delicate.

"I wanna talk about something, though." Nami crooked a finger at Miho. "Come here, Miho."

"Aw, maaaaaaannn... whad'I'do?" Miho knew what was coming and sat in front of her sister, jaw jutting out defiantly.

"It's not her fault-" Erena piped up but Nami squeezed Erena extra hard to get her to be quiet.

"I'm talking to Miho. She can defend herself." Nami sighed. "So, what happened?"

"Those guys are jackasses." Miho muttered. Nami slightly regretted her free use of such language in front of her younger sisters. Miho had soaked up all the bad words like a sponge. "I dealt with it and I'm being punished. Lets just fugghedaboutit."

"Uh," Nami glowered at the youngest member of her family. "No, we will not just 'fugghedaboutit'. Miho, you know you shouldn't bully people-"

"It's not her fault!" Erena said again, this time frantically trying to cover for her sister. "She was just standing up for me!"

"What?" Nami raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Shut up, Erena." Miho growled.

"There were these guys, they're in your grade-"

"What are their names?" Nami narrowed her eyes. Her grade? What the hell were people in her year doing bullying her younger sisters?

"Hario and his friends."

"THOSE jackasses?" Nami felt her temper flare. There was always a group of guys her friends and her didn't get along with. Hario (his real name was Harima Haro), lead a bunch of bullies in another class. Already, the mention of those names told her Miho was probably in the right. "Okay, so what happened?"

Both the sisters went quiet while Erena just blushed bright red in mortification.

"They called me fat, okay?" Miho muttered. "So lets just drop it."

"They called me Double-D Dummy. So Miho beat them up. She was trying to ignore them, but then they called me that." Erena said quietly. Miho glared at Erena for letting the cat out of the bag, wanting to keep that comment a secret. Nami understood that Miho wanted to save Erena the embarassment, but... Nami was just so angry now.

"THEY. WHAT." Nami saw red. Her sisters were all growing up faster than her. Miho, Nami was sure, would be taller than her. The youngest girl still had a little bit of baby fat on her, but Nami found that adorable. Miho was NOT fat. Erena was also gonna be taller than her, but she had matured in other areas first. Erena put everybody in her school to shame, having filled out in all the right ways. Nami had had to lay the smack-down on some of her friends when she caught them gaping at her sister when they came over.

"I will DESTROY them and no-one will find their bodies." Nami deadpanned. She held out her arms to Miho. "Come here."

Miho jumped into Nami's arms and Nami hugged her, giving her younger sister's forehead a very rare peck of a kiss.

"You were right, I'm sorry I thought you were just beating people up. I hope you broke something." Nami growled, rocking a delighted Miho in her arms. "If you didn't, I'll make sure I do next time I see them."

"I kicked that idiot where it hurt!" Miho said cheerfully.

"Itai." Nami grinned. "Just like I taught you. You did good, Miho. I'm proud of you. But... uh... don't tell mom I said that."

"Well I didn't beat anyone up, but I want a kiss too!" Erena made a sad face. "My feelings were hurt."

Nami grinned at her sister's acting but pecked a kiss on Erena's forehead too. She was going to have a talk with Hario... or at least mail some of her friends to take care of business. Man... she sounded like a yakuza!

"Man, I wish you'd stop working!" Miho complained. "Then these assholes would really get it!"

"Why don't you stay longer?" Erena pleaded. The two looked up at their older sister with stars in their eyes. They idolized their older sister; Nami could do absolutely no wrong in their eyes. She had protected them since they were young, watched out for them and loved them in her own funny, awkward way. They didn't understand why Nami went off to try to be an idol. To them, Nami was already an idol.

"First, I can't, I have people who depend on me." Thoughts of Asahi and Hinata came up. "Second, I really like what I'm doing. Third, Miho, stop swearing. Mom hears you swear and she'll totally blame me again."

Nami had had a bit of a potty-mouth when the girls were younger. She only stopped swearing so much when she found out Miho had picked up a lot of new words from her and the youngest child in their family had gotten in a lot of trouble at school for swearing like she had tourette's. Miho had covered for her sister and blamed unspecified older kids for the language. Mr. and Mrs. Kawachi knew better and had given Nami a stern talking to about being a better role-model for her sisters.

"It WAS your fault, though." Erena pointed out, giggling. Glancing at the door nervously, Erena whispered the next word as quietly as possible. "Fuck."

"ERENA!" Nami gaped at Erena, scandalized and held up a finger. "Mom hears that from YOU of all people, she'll kill me-"

"Fucktard!" Miho chirped.

"Miho!"

"Um," Erena, ever the gentle child, was having trouble trying to find a bad word that would top Miho's. "Um, um-"

"No." Nami covered her sister's mouths with her hand as the two young girls giggled deliriously. "I will KILL the both of you."

"What's going on in here?" Ichiro stuck his head in. The oldest, he was also the tallest. Nami again wondered how the hell she got the short end of the stick when it came to height. He was pretty handsome, she would have to say, with his immaculately coiffed hair and ready smile. All his girlfriends seemed to love him.

"Bro." Nami grinned up at her older brother who stole her baseball cap to muss her hair up in a gesture of affection.

"Hiya, shortie." Ichiro grinned at her. "How's idol-work? Haven't seen you on TV yet... or is mom right and you're actually pregnant?"

"She needs to stop spreading these rumours about me." Nami growled.

* * *

endnote: So a brief intro on these girls and their families. This arc won't be as long as the Okinawan one, don't worry. And for all you fans out there: I'm hoping you picked up on the new character additions. If not... you should hang your head in shame. IN SHAME O_O


	20. Chapter 20

Mendol: Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 20

author's note: We get more family love! Papa Wakamatsu arrives! Will Hinata wear a business suit? Is Nami really pregnant? FIND OUT on this installation of the re-imagining of Mendol, IMMO-STYLE!

* * *

Kouhei looked at Asahi slyly as they worked in the kitchen to help their mother. Asahi knew her younger brother was looking at her, but was ignoring it as she stirred the soup stock.

"Nee-san, you've been holding out on me." Kouhei finally spoke up. "Acting all shy and saying Yuko's a weirdo. You could've just told me you had a relationship with her-"

"DROP. IT." Asahi hissed through her teeth. She could see her mother, diligently chopping vegetables and trying not to laugh as her children argued. Asahi had explained about the whole Yuko mess in Okinawa-to which her family had laughed at her for a full TEN MINUTES!-and now, to save her daughter from dying of embarassment, Mama Wakamatsu had ordered her children to help her in the kitchen and not talk about 'work'.

Kouhei, of course, hadn't been able to keep quiet for long.

"So you don't remember ANYTHING from that night?" Kouhei leered at his sister. "You just woke up, in bed together-"

"SHUT UP!" Asahi screeched, sure that she was red from head to toe. Asahi was glad she had left out the part about her being half-naked and given REALLY vague information on what had happened between her and Yuko... but it was still enough ammunition for her brother to shoot her with.

"Well, now I know not to use too much cooking wine in the food." Mrs. Wakamatsu hummed to herself. Kouhei started cracking up which sent Mama Wakamatsu into a fit of giggles, all at the expense of Asahi.

"You're like, a lot more successful with girls, aren't you?" Kouhei sneaked some cucumber into his mouth. His mother caught him this time and smacked his arm. They weren't going to have any ingredients left! "I mean, all the girls at my school think you're pretty good looking. They LOVE you. Well, the ones that don't love Kai or Kuu, that is."

"I'm successful with guys too!" Asahi protested.

"Oh yeah?" Kouhei snorted. "Name one person."

Asahi was struck speechless as she tried to think of guys that had had an interest in her... and came up blank. Thankfully, Asahi was saved by the doorbell.

"Oh, that might be your father now! Go get the door!" Mama Wakamatsu puttered around, trying to do everything at once while Kouhei helped her. They all wanted Papa Wakamatsu to be pleased with the preparations! Asahi trudged over to the door, grumbling about the lack of sympathy from her family on being sexually harassed.

"Papa-Jiro?" Asahi gaped at the young man at her door. He had looked nervous but brightened up at the sight of Asahi.

"Asahi!" He danced nervously from foot to foot. "I heard you were back! I thought I'd see you after the Okinawa trip but you were really busy and TV Tohto wouldn't let me on the premises-"

"Come in!" Asahi pulled the boy in.

"Honey-" Mama Wakamatsu stopped herself as she saw that it was the neighbourhood boy who always hung around making googly eyes at Asahi. She was disappointed it was not her husband, but happy to see one of Asahi's friends. "Oh, hello Jiro."

"Konnichiwa." Jiro greeted stiffly, immediately nervous. Asahi pulled Jiro all the way into the kitchen and presented him in front of her brother.

"Jiro! You're back!" Asahi's brother grinned at the blonde man. Jiro used to come over a lot to play video games with Kouhei when they were younger. Of course, Jiro also used that as an excuse to see Asahi.

"There. One person!"

Kouhei let out a little laugh. "Okay. Fine. Name one more!"

Asahi wracked her brain and could only come up with one other name.

"Katsuyuki-san!"

"What about him?" Jiro frowned, confused. What the hell was going on?

"We're trying to name guys that are interested in Asahi." Kouhei explained matter-of-factly. Everyone knew that Jiro was madly in love with Asahi. "Katsuyuki? The producer guy? Are you sure? And he doesn't even know you're a girl! So there, Riku attracts BOTH sexes!"

"Wait, they know?" Jiro gaped at Asahi.

Asahi scowled at him. "They're my family. OF COURSE they know."

"Yeah, she's not like someone else who hasn't told their parents they work as a paparazzo." Mama Wakamatsu sing-songed as she ladled soup into a saucepan as a base for her chicken.

"Oooooohhhh!" Kouhei grinned at Jiro. "BURN, man."

"It's just until I get a pulitzer!" Jiro protested then drew himself up seriously. "Then I'll formally ask for your daughter's hand in marriage."

"I'll be waiting." Mama Wakamatsu smiled blithely. Jiro, since he was a child, had announced to anyone who cared to listen that he was going to marry Asahi. Asahi and her family had learned to ignore him.

"And is Katsuyuki-san really interested in you?" Jiro crossed his arms, muttering. "I think he's getting too close to you. Who does that guy think he is..."

"See, if Jiro's jealous, it MUST be true." Asahi was pretty wrapped up in her argument. Everyone was talking so loudly that they hadn't heard the front door open and it wasn't until Papa Wakamatsu cleared his throat that everyone realized he was back.

"Honey!" Mama threw her ladle in the air carelessly and ran into her husband's open arms. Asahi's parents were pretty affectionate with each other, never having left the honeymoon stages of their marriage.

"I love you! I love you!" The couple danced around in glee, happy to see each other.

"And what have we here?" Mr. Wakamatsu focused his bespeckled gaze on Asahi. Papa Wakamatsu looked like any other Japanese salaryman, indistinguishable from all the other salarymen with his dark-rimmed glasses and conservative haircut. But to Asahi, she could pick her papa out of any rush-hour crowd, his face like a beacon to her in the sea of suits. "Has my baby girl come home?"

"Papa!" Asahi hugged her dad who hugged her back furiously, crying a little bit. "Papa, don't cry."

"I'm not crying!" Papa Wakamatsu was a sensitive man and tears were streaming down his face as he squished Asahi's face between his hands. "Oh, my baby girl's all grown up!"

"Papaaaaaa..." Asahi was getting embarassed as Jiro and Kouhei looked on in amusement.

"Come on, Kouhei! Lets do the '3 Seconds' dance together! Come on, lets show her what you taught me!" Papa Wakamatsu pulled his son forward, who pulled back relunctantly.

"How about no?" Kouhei said gruffly. Seriously! He had a cool image to keep up!

"Oh, trying to be a cool guy, huh? I getchu!" Papa held his hand up for a high-five. Kouhei relented and slapped his father's hand relunctantly. "Alright! We're cool!"

"No. No we're not." Kouhei muttered under his breath. Honestly! His dad could be so embarassing some times!

"So are you staying over for dinner, Jiro?" Papa Wakamatsu laughed and slapped Jiro heartily on the back. The young man almost toppled over from the force of the slaps. "Heard you're a paparazzo now," Mr. Wakamatsu turned threatening. "I hope you're not taking bad pictures of Persona."

"N-n-n-no sir!" Jiro promised.

"Papa, stop scaring Jiro." Asahi sighed. It wasn't that she was standing up for her childhood friend. It was just... when they were five, Mr. Wakamatsu had scared Jiro and the poor boy had wet his pants. Asahi did NOT want a repeat. While everybody talked, nobody noticed that Asahi's phone that was resting on the counter, had a message. Nobody except Kouhei who sneakily grabbed it and slipped out of the room.

_Nyan-nyaaaaaan. Are you still mad at me? *sad-face* I'm sorrrrrry. i have time off tonight, maybe we can do dinner? *smiley face* *kiss kiss kiss*_

Kouhei smirked, mailing back.

_I'm not mad! But I have dinner with my family tonight. do you wanna come to my house for dessert?_

The reply Kouhei got back was scarily fast.

_WHERE_

Kouhei typed the address and then when Yuko confirmed that she was coming and would bring something, Kouhei sneaked back into the kitchen and put Asahi's phone back on the counter. Just in time, as he saw Asahi casting around for her cell.

"There it is." Asahi grabbed her cellphone, flipped it open to see if there were any messages and seeing no alerts, flipped it close and tucked it into her pocket. She turned to see Kouhei grinning at her, looking very much like the cat that had just eaten the canary.

"What are you grinning about?" Asahi asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." Kouhei gave his sister a tight, one-armed hug to hide his grinning. "Just glad to have you around, Nee-chan."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're not too cool to hug your sister." Asahi returned the hug, happy that her younger brother was trying to be nice.

"Okay, well, uh, I'm gonna head back home." Jiro was starting to feel awkward. Asahi's family was really tight-knit, so people always felt left out, unfortunately, though the family never meant for it to happen.

"Oh, Jiro, come by for dessert later." Mama Wakamatsu offered.

"Yes." Papa smiled and smacked Jiro on the back again. "Asahi's little fiance is always welcome here!"

"I'm not his fiancee." Asahi complained, but Jiro didn't hear Asahi's complaint and puffed up with pleasure. Asahi's father had called him Asahi's fiance! This was great!

"I'll come by! For sure!" Jiro promised, stumbling off to the front door. He had to eat dinner fast! He back-tracked though, suddenly remembering something.

"Please don't tell my family I'm a paparazzo." pleaded Jiro.

"You should tell them soon, ya know?" Kouhei shook his head. "Be brave, man!"

"That's easy for you to say." Jiro sighed and left. When it was just the Wakamatsu's now, Papa turned to Asahi, crossing his arms.

"Now, your mother mailed me while I was on the train and told me that Riku has a lady suitor! So when are you going to bring your girlfriend home?" Papa raised an eyebrow. "Is she from a respectable family?"

Kouhei and Mama Wakamatsu started laughing out loud, at the expense of Asahi who had turned completely red while screeching, "It's not like that at all!"

* * *

Dinner had been served pretty early and Hinata had tried her best to ignore that Abe-san as much as possible or act as pleasantly disinterested as possible. He hadn't gotten the hint; even during dessert he seemed intent on interviewing her for a job position and telling her what she should be doing and how she should dress. It wasn't until after dessert that Hinata could escape to her room. Keeping busy would excuse her from having to mingle with the guests, so she went to her closet to re-organize her dresses. Hinata hadn't been back in a while and some of her dresses looked POSITIVELY dusty from not being worn!

"Hina?" A knock and Lisa's voice floated through her bedroom door. "Can I come in?"

"Door's unlocked." Hinata was shaking out her dresses. She TOTALLY forgot she had this little emerald number in the back of her closet! She would have to break this out some time soon!

"I saw you sneak up." Lisa smiled at the dresses thrown down in layers on Hinata's bed. The pile sort of looked like a very beautiful, multi-layered cake. "You have so many of these!"

"I personally love 'Baby, the Stars Shine Bright!' dresses best." Hinata gushed, happy to have an audience. "And the petticoat I'm wearing now? It goes with everything! You would think a petticoat isn't important but it gives shape to your dresses."  
Lisa sat on the bed next to the dresses, listening to Hinata happily talk about her lolita clothing collection.

"Are you happy?" Lisa suddenly interrupted Hinata's flow of words.

The lolita looked at Lisa, then smiled. "I am. I made friends!"

"Are they nice to you?" Lisa asked seriously.

"Asahi's really nice to me." Hinata said excitedly, forgetting all about her clothes. Talking about her friends was so much better! "She's always really responsible and she takes work really seriously-"

"You met your friends at work?"

"Yeah!" Hinata nodded, regretting that she couldn't tell Lisa about Persona. Lisa would understand... but the less people that knew, the better. "Asahi's really pretty, but she sort of doesn't know it. Oh, and recently, Asahi had some girl chasing after her!"

"A girl?" Lisa raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Hinata giggled. "It was so funny! And even though Asahi acts all annoyed, I really think that she liked hanging around Yuko and they're really good friends! We had a work trip and we had so much fun! It was really hard, but we had more down time so we got to meet new people too! Asahi worked really hard and you should see her when she's working! She makes a face like this-"

Hinata blathered on about Asahi for another few minutes before suddenly jumping on to the topic of Nami.

"And Nami... Nami's like, the protective older brother I never had." Hinata was sitting down next to Lisa now. Usually, Hinata didn't talk much but now, there was no stopping her. "Nami's a girl, but she's so manly! She told me she had like, two older brothers and almost all her friends are guys, so she's totally acting like a guy a lot! But she's so girly some times it's cute! But Nami gets so embarassed when she is, even though she IS a girl. On our work trip, it was SO funny because she had to keep these two girls from fighting all the time but everybody sorta blamed her for the fighting-"

"That's awful!" Lisa smiled.

"Right?" Hinata nodded her head. "It so wasn't her fault! But everyone blamed her anyways and she just sort of dealt with it anyways."

"Well, what about that person you were talking with on the phone before?" Lisa poked Hinata in the stomach. "Fossil?"

"MY ARCH-NEMESIS." Hinata's eyes narrowed. "The oldest, most evil of evils in this universe. She has curry-breath and steals jolly-ranchers from me!"

"So you two are really good friends, hm?" Lisa patted Hinata's head while the loli gaped at the New Zealander. Had Aunt Lisa not been listening? MARIKO WAS THE MOST EVIL BEING IN THE WORLD!

"She is NOT my friend! She is the reason why we have death in the world!" Hinata replied indignantly. "She is an ugly person, inside and out! People who say her face belongs on the cover of magazines need their eyes checked! Unless they mean she should be on the cover of National Geographic for oldest living fossil! I hate her!"

"I'm sure." Lisa drawled out. Some times this child could be so dramatic! "So you're really happy?"

Hinata nodded, smiling. Persona had been the best thing to ever happen to her. "Hinata has never been happier!"

"I'm happy to hear that." Lisa smiled softly, looking a bit sad. "So I want to tell you something. I was going to call you, since you were so busy... but now that I have you face to face, I guess-"

"What is it, auntie?" Hinata suddenly realized that her usual cool and collected aunt was acting very unlike herself.

"Hina..." Lisa stroked Hinata's head fondly, still looking sad. "Hina, I'm going home."

"Oh. Okay." Hinata smiled. That was it? That was the thing her aunt wanted to talk about? "Next time I get time off, I'll come visit-"

"No, Hina, listen." Lisa sighed. "I'm going home. Back to New Zealand."

"...what?" Hinata blinked, confused. "Wha... but... Auntie, your home is here-"

"It's not, Hina." Lisa sighed. "I've been in Japan for a really long time and I love it here... but my parents want me to come home. I don't have much here, Hinata. Except for you and your parents."

"What about other foreigners?" Hinata had met a couple of Lisa's friends. They were good people.

"All of them don't stay long." Lisa shrugged. It was then that Hinata came to the stunning realization that her auntie, her strong and independant auntie, could be lonely. "They come and go, Hina."

"So when will you be back?" Hinata asked anxiously. Some times Lisa left for a month or so back to New Zealand to visit with family. Didn't her aunt just come back from a trip like that? Would she go for longer?

"You remember I went back to New Zealand not that long ago, right?"

Hinata nodded cautiously.

"Well, last time I went back, I was offered a job. A pretty good one at a big company." Lisa tried to smile but failed miserably. "They want me to work at the head office in New Zealand. I... I don't think I'll be able to come back for a year or so. I'll be very busy."

"No." Hinata shook her head. She suddenly felt like a child again. "I don't want you to go."

"I have to go, Hina. I accepted their offer already." Lisa tried to hug Hinata but the lolita pushed her favourite auntie away, needing the space. "Hina..."

"Why are you leaving me?" Hinata asked accusingly, her voice high and tight.

"Oh, honey, I'll never ever leave you." Lisa replied in her lilting Japanese. "You're like a daughter to me and you were actually the main thing I worried about when I was considering their offer-"

"But you took it anyways!" Hinata sprung away from Lisa, glaring at the woman. Lisa just sat there, looking tired and unhappy. She had actually talked to the Otawas and they had urged her to take the job, assuring her that Hinata would be okay with it, that Hinata wouldn't need her around anymore. Didn't Hinata have a job now? Wasn't she barely home anyways? Hinata was a teenager, no longer a child. They had told her that and Lisa had just accepted what they said.

Lisa knew now, she should've asked Hinata herself, if she was okay with it. Hinata had always been very sensitive and why had Lisa thought Hinata would've been okay with her leaving? Lisa remembered seeing Hinata for the first time. She had been a precocious child, schooled to be a lady and cautious of strangers. Hinata had been barely eight at the time. The young Otawa had opened up to Lisa, however, because Lisa expected nothing of the child except for her to be just that: a child. Her parents, though they loved her to bits, were regrettably not always at home when Hinata needed an adult, but Lisa had always been there. At times when Lisa herself felt so visibly foreign in this strictly Asian country, Hinata was a joy and always made Lisa feel welcome.

While Hinata worked hard at the lessons her tutors gave her, with Lisa, she could relax and do what children did. For a long time, Lisa was Hinata's only friend and confidante. The lolita's parents loved her, she knew that... but Lisa had been there when Hinata was sick and they weren't there. Lisa had been there when Hinata was scared, or lonely, or sad. And now, Lisa was leaving.

"Don't you love me anymore?" Hinata's voice broke in a sob on the last word.

"Hina-"

But Hinata had run out of her room and was rushing blindly down the stairs, only thinking of escaping. She could hear Lisa calling her, but Hinata ignored the woman, grabbing the carry-on she had brought home and running out the front door. Hinata ran, not knowing where she was going but wanting to get as far away as possible. She didn't run for long though, crying making her breathless and she ended up just trudging along, tears streaming down her face.

Lisa was leaving? Another sob escaped her. All of the loneliness she felt as a child rushed up to engulf her again. Before, Lisa had been there to help fight back the tides of depression, but now, it was so difficult. Her phone was ringing and she knew it must be Lisa, trying to find her. Lisa was probably really worried.

'But I don't want to talk to you right now.' Hinata pressed the hang-up button on her phone viciously, rejecting the calls. Then she made a call of her own. Within several seconds, a familiar voice picked up.

"Hinata?"

"Asahi..."

* * *

"Pa."

Nami's father was a typical stoic father-figure. He spoke very little and communicated in grunts and monosyllabic words. His children feared and respected him and he was the breadwinner of the family. Mr. Kawachi was a blue-collar working man and he had worked hard to provide for his children, his hair already almost all white though he still had quite a youthful face. From this normally withdrawn and silent father, Nami knew she had been missed when he clapped her a few times on the shoulder, smiled at her and said more words to her than he had to anyone all day.

"Good to have you back." He had said. There was no time for other words as the family was hurried out to a graveyard where the children's grandparents were buried and paid their respects. After that, they had all gone home, all of them starving. Nami and her sisters had been yanked into the kitchen to help their mother, which Nami had been loath to do.

"So how was work?" The question was innocent enough and shouldn't have raised Nami's hackles, but it did.

"Fine." Nami bit out. She was a lot like her father in some respects, namely the monosyllabic answers.

"So you don't have anything more to add than 'fine'?" Her mother continued asking. Nami gritted her teeth in annoyance. How was it that her mother could, with just a few words, irritate the hell out of her?

"No."

"So you're not pregnant."

The scathing look Nami gave her mother was enough of an answer.

"Well, I was also thinking who would want to get you pregnant anyways." The off-hand comment wasn't meant to hurt but it was still hurtful and it made Nami's blood boil. It had always been like this. She hated being at home.

"And I always thought you wouldn't make a good hostess." Her mother continued giggling a bit at the image in her head. Erena and Miho giggled a bit too, imagining their sister in a slinky dress and entertaining drunken men.

"And why wouldn't I?" Nami snapped. Her sisters, in tune to Nami's moods, fell quiet knowing that Nami was close to exploding.

"Well, you don't have the best personality." Nami's mother said teasingly.

"Nami." Erena was at her older sister's side, hanging on to her arm, trying to calm her down. It wasn't that Nami and her mother didn't love each other. It was just that Nami's personality and her mother's didn't match at all. Nami liked to keep to herself, she was tomboyish and she wasn't very affectionate. She didn't share much of her life with her mother and liked to keep it that way. Mrs. Kawachi was involved with all of her children; they were her life. Ichiro and Shouta were mama's boys and Erena and Miho also loved sharing with their mother. The only one who was different was Nami. She didn't like being teased, she didn't like these little put-downs. She didn't want to talk to her mother about feelings or boys and she just wanted her mother to stay out of her business. Nami had a thick skin but her mother knew exactly how to make Nami feel the worst.

"I don't want to help anymore." To keep the peace, Nami had to leave.

"Oh, the 'big star' can't help us in the kitchen?" Every word her mother said pissed her off. Nami knew her mother was trying to joke with her. But coming from her mother, these words only made her angry. Erena's grip on her arm steadied her, though, and she tried to ignore her mother, which worked quite well, actually.

The rest of the time in the kitchen was spent in silence, Erena keeping close to her sister. The second-youngest always had a way of soothing Nami which came in handy during these blow-outs. Of course, she was underfoot all the time and Nami would snap at her, but Erena knew her sister would not get too angry at her.

When the food was almost done, Nami went to set the table. While putting down chopsticks for everyone, she got one of her daily mails from Ray.

_Kai! i miss you! *heart* Can u come visit me? I'm filming a commercial. I know you're not working today so come see me *sad face*_

'How does she know that?' Nami shook her heard. Big stalker pervert. There was an address attached to the mail. It was actually quite close, maybe a ten minute ride on the trains. Nami knew the park they were filming at, she had gone there a few times with her guy friends.

_with my family for obon. busy. talk to you later?_

Nami sent back, not in the mood for Ray at the moment. But the Diva's message did perk Nami up. She was Kai. She was an idol. Nobody could take that away from her. In a better mood, she helped bring the food out and call her brothers and father to the table.

"Well, we're all back together." Mrs. Kawachi smiled around at her family. She had missed Ichiro and Nami, a lot. Even though Nami was an impossible child, she was still HER child and Ma Kawachi did love her. But some times, Mrs. Kawachi thought Nami didn't love her as much as her other children since she never wanted to spend time together.

"Hm." Pa Kawachi was equally pleased, seated in between Nami and Ichiro.

"Well, our university student and little idol-wannabe has come home, so we're a complete family again!" That comment didn't sit well with Nami at all and Erena help on to the sleeve of Nami's shirt. The fiery young woman glared at her sister but let it slide, grumbling a quick 'itadakimasu' as everyone started attacking the food. Since there were so many people in the family, meals were often a battlefield. If you wanted a certain kind of food, you better get it before someone else did. Since it was a full house tonight, it was noisy and crowded, people fighting for the food in the dishes in front of them. By the end of the meal, everybody had filled themselves up and there was no food left.

"Thanks for the meal." Shouta burped. Everybody mummbled their agreements. Their mother was a good cook.

"So, how's school, Ichiro?" Ma Kawachi was finishing the last of her miso soup.

"It's fine." Ichiro shrugged. "It's school. Not much. I'm doing okay, I guess."

"How's your girlfriend?"

"Maaaaa..." Ichiro whined. "She's fine! I *said* I'll bring her home some day!"

"Some day." Ma Kawachi scoffed, but smiled at her oldest child. "Okay. And Nami, when are you coming home."

"I'm living with the people I work with right now." Nami said vaguely. Everybody was listening attentively to this conversation. Nami had just up and left one day, saying she had gotten signed and was going to be an idol. They had watched for her on TV but had never seen her, neither had she informed them of when she was debuting. It was strange.

"You should just stop pretending you're working and come home." Her mother said off-handedly. Funny enough, out of all the children, Nami looked the most like her mother but was most at odds with the woman.

"I *am* working!" Their voices were steadily rising and Nami shrugged off Erena's hand, her younger sister no longer able to keep her in check.

"As an idol?" Mrs. Kawachi scoffed. "How come we don't see you on TV, then?"

Nami made a noise of frustration as everybody nodded in agreement to their mother's statement. They MUST have seen her on TV but she couldn't tell them or else it'll open up ANOTHER conversation topic she didn't want to talk about! A message on her phone interrupted whatever she was going to say next and Nami, frowning, read it. Answering quickly, she flipped her phone shut and stormed away, grabbing her bag and climbing the stairs two at a time to grab her baseball cap she had left in the sisters' room.

"And where do you think you're going?" Mrs. Kawachi's voice was like nails on the chalkboard to Nami as she barreled back down to the main floor. She had to get away.

"Leaving!" Nami snapped. Before her mother could chase after her, her father finally spoke up.

"Leave her alone. Let her cool down." His voice cut through whatever his wife was going to say or do as the house shook from Nami slamming the door.

"That girl!" Mrs. Kawachi grumbled, heading back to the dining room table to clean up. Erena and Miho had followed Nami to the foyer, disappointed as their older sister disappeared out the front door. They had totally thought their sister would be having a sleepover with them tonight!

"Sanbyou mitsumeru dake de-"

"Nami's phone!" Miho spotted it near the front door. Nami must've dropped it! Picking it up, she sat down and started pulling on her shoes.

"Where are you going?" Erena asked, mimicking her younger sister's actions. When Miho got an idea into her head, there was no stopping her and Erena had learned to just follow along to make sure her youngest sibling didn't get into any trouble.

"Going after Nami to give her her phone!" The phone was still ringing.

"Give me that," Erena snatched the phone away from Miho and answered it. "Moshi-moshi."

"Um... is this Nami?" A somewhat familiar voice asked.

"No, she left her phone at home. Can I ask who's calling?" Erena asked politely. One of Nami's friends? The voice sounded so familiar... but Nami didn't have any girl friends...

"Oh, um, could you tell her Atsuko called?"

"Sure!" Erena said pleasantly. "Bye!"

"Thank you, bye."

"Who was that?" Miho asked. Erena shrugged, looking at the caller display.

"Maeda... Atsuko?" Erena scratched her head. Why did that name sound so familiar?

"And where do you think you two are going?" Mrs. Kawachi had come back to the foyer to look at her two daughters.

"NNamidroppedherphone, we're goingtogiveittoherloveyoumom, bye!" Miho explained in a rush before running out the door with Erena running behind her. When they were far enough away for their mother to not bother chasing them, Miho frowned at Erena.

"Maeda Atsuko? Like the actress on that Three Sisters' drama?"

The sisters exchanged looks, jaws dropping almost to their chest. Could it be? WAS IT SHE?

"Phone again!" Miho was jumping with excitement. "Is it really her? Or is it some other Maeda Atsuko?"

"It sounded like her!" Erena dialed Maeda Atsuko's number and the two sisters pressed their ears against the phone.

"Moshi-moshi-"

Erena hung up immediately while Miho squealed in excitement.

"It's her! It's really her!" Miho would recognize Atsuko's voice, anywhere! She watched Three Sisters religiously!

"Oh my god." Erena felt slightly guilty. She, of course, believed her older sister when she said she was going to be an idol. But she didn't really give Nami any back-up when their mother had been saying Nami was probably just fooling around somewhere. She quickly went through Nami's phone, going through her most recent messages.

"Come on, I know where she's going." Erena headed to the train station.

Nami, meanwhile, was already on the train. She had noticed her phone was missing but was pretty sure she had left it in the house. A house she was NOT going in to. She had done the family thing and now she could leave! She'll just go back to Kamonohatsu house-damnit. She couldn't! Their manager was gone and had locked up the house... Nami hadn't even grabbed her key to the shared house!

"God damn it..." Nami muttered to herself. Her train was coming to a stop at her station... exiting quickly, she ducked into a unisex washroom and quickly donned her wig inside her stall, pinning it on expertly. Kai made last minute adjustments to his hair before exiting, glad to not have to change since he was already in boyish clothes and his sweater was loose enough that it covered any hint of boobs.

'Not that I have much to hide.' Nami thought mournfully. 'Why the hell does Erena have bigger boobs than me?'

Kai started heading to the park that he knew Ray would be filming at... only to stop when he noticed a big hulking man in a nearby convenience store, looking through the candy.

"Dai." The blonde noticed the bodyguard trying to pick out sweets. Kai walked into the store and slapped the man on the back.

"Yo!"

"Kai!" Dai beamed at the small blonde. "You're here!"

"Yeah." Kai drawled. Hiro had sent him a message, almost begging Kai to come. Kai hadn't needed any more prompting to get out of the house. "You're buying candy?"

"For Ray." Dai looked around surreptiously, in case anybody heard him. Kai waited for the big man to finish buying candy and followed him to the park.

"What's wrong this time? Is she throwing a fit?" Kai sighed. The Diva's temper was so unpredictable.

"No." Dai replied morosely. "She's sad."

"What? What's wrong?" Kai couldn't help being worried.

Dai shrugged. "Hiro told us Ray always gets like this on Obon."

Kai frowned, trying to think of why Ray would be sad while trying to keep up with Dai's strides. They finally made it to the location Ray was filming at, to discover that Ray was taking a break while everyone else was fixing up the set for another shot. Kai overheard good-natured grumbling about having to work and not being able to be with their families. Bypassing the staff working on the set, Kai headed towards the small bus with tinted windows parked on the edge of the filming area that he knew was probably set up for Ray to relax in when she had breaks. Hiro was the only one guarding the door and Kai could see Masa and Mako patrolling around the perimeter of the set. Ray's guards sure were diligent.

"My man." Hiro grinned at Kai, relieved to see him. The entire day had been unnerving, just like it had been last year. "Go on in. I can't even cheer her up with izakaya food."

The door was opened for Kai and the blonde stepped right into the currently irrate woman's dimly lit van.

"I said, don't call me until we start-Kai!" Her voice changed from annoyed to delighted as she jumped up to envelope Kai in a hug. "You actually came to see me! I thought you said you were busy!"

"Haha, yeah." Kai shrugged as the door shut behind him. He felt like he was in a coffin, all the curtains were drawn. At least this coffin was air-conditioned. "I was in the area. And Hiro said you were being a pain." Kai pushed Ray away gently and walked her backwards until the back of Ray's knees hit a seat and Ray had to sit down.

"He said what?" Ray narrowed her eyes.

"I'm just joking." Kai quickly covered for the bodyguard, letting out a sigh. Even with Ray being a pain, it was still better than being at home right now.

Ra tilted her head to the side. Kai's lovely face was marred by frown lines. "Are you okay?"

"That's my line." Kai smiled softly down at Ray. "You don't have to worry about me."

"I do worry." Ray was holding on to Kai's hand and now pressed it against her face, closing her eyes at the tingles she got from the contact. Kai shuddered, but tried to resist pulling away. It seemed like they were both not feeling well today and... Kai didn't want to admit it... they needed each other.

"I just had a fight with my mother." Kai blew out a breath in frustration, not knowing why she was talking to Ray about this. "She just gets under my skin ALL the time. I mean, she's my mother, right? She's supposed to know me enough to know that some of the things she says pisses me off! Everyone else in my family knows and sometimes, I feel like my sisters know me better than my mother!"

"What does she say?"

Kai grimaced. "That I'm not good enough. That I should just go home."

"Maybe she's just worried about you." Ray tried to console Kai. "I mean, at least your parents want to see you, right?"

"Yeah." Kai admitted grudgingly. Ma Kawachi had been really happy to see Nami. And Kai knew that Ma was just worried about Nami... but Kai was doing alright.

"Enough about me." Kai made a face, then tried to smile at Ray. "What about you? I'd think Sarukawa-shachou wouldn't dare not let you see your family today."

"He wouldn't." Ray laughed humourlessly. "I insisted I work today. My parents don't want to see me."

"What?" Kai exclaimed. "Why not?"

"Well, they're too busy." Ray lied, not wanting to really explain. "My parents and I aren't very close." That was a bit of an understatement, actually. Ray and her parents were positively strangers. Ray knew she had been a mistake since she was really young. Her parents were married to their work and Ray some times wondered why they even married each other. Since Ray could remember, her grandfather, Torao, had taken care of her. Her parents had basically forgotten she existed for most of her childhood. She had tried, of course. And they had tried too. But it had been... awkward.

"Well, I'm sure they're just really busy-"

"The one time I had taken initiative and gone to my parents' house, I had been locked out because both my parents were in another part of Japan for business." Ray confessed. It was the first time she had told ANYONE about her family situation. Not even Tomochin knew. "I had been mad at my grandfather because I thought he didn't want to invite them to my birthday. He had, I found out. He gave them a lot of warning in advance and they still didn't come."

Kai didn't know what to say to that. Now he just felt like an ass. Ray's situation was so much worse than his own and here he was getting so worked up about his mom annoying him.

"It was my 15th birthday. I went back home and my grandfather forgave me for running away. He took me to an izakaya." Ray smiled at the memory. "He ordered my first chu-hi and bibimbap for me."

"That's why you like izakayas." It all made sense to Kai now. "Well, why don't you go home to your grandfather?"

"He's dead." Ray said bluntly. Her grandfather had died just when Ray was starting to get popular. She had taken a day or two off for the funeral but had immediately gone back to work. The press didn't even get wind of this event in her life, she was already quite adept at hiding her comings and goings from them, early in her career.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"He died a while ago." Ray shrugged uncomfortably, not wanting to think about Torao more. It was on days like Obon or other family-centric days that she missed her grandfather the most. But Ray didn't cry. Ray had already gone to her grandfather's grave early in the morning to quickly clean up and offer some flowers, then she had immediately gone back to work. The Diva had promised her grandfather that she'd be strong and be successful. That she would be happy and she wouldn't need anyone and be okay by herself. Her whole career was a dedication to her grandfather who had, in his old age, tried to care for a talented and eccentric child, all by himself. Ray had been made strong by Torao's care.

But today, of all days, she had needed someone. She missed her grandfather. Ray felt the loneliness more and more.

She needed Kai and here he was.

"Lets talk about something else." Ray pulled Kai closer, so she was hugging her beloved who let her and didn't pull away for once. With her arms encircling Kai, the Diva let out a sigh of contentment. Kai made everything better. Parting a bit, she reached up and aggressively caught hold of the collar of his sweater, pulling him down. She NEEDED him now. Ray was shocked at how powerful that need was, how desperately she needed to have Kai in front of her, all around her, as close to her as possible-

"Ma'am?" Hiro's loud voice interrupted them, giving Kai the perfect chance to jump away from Ray.

"What?" Ray couldn't keep the sharpness out of her voice. She had been THIS close to Kai kisses! THIS. CLOSE.

"Excuse me." Hiro opened the door and bowed. "But there are, um, two small girls looking for Kai. They said they have something of his that he dropped and they're refusing to leave until I pass the message on."

"WHO YOU CALLING SMALL?" Miho's voice floated into the car.

"Oh crap." Kai cursed and was out the door like a shot. There were his sisters, standing there with stars in their eyes, grinning at him.

"OH MY GOD!" As soon as Kai got close, they attacked him with their hugs. "ICAN'TBELIEVEYOU'REKAIOHMYGODTHISISSOCOOL-"

"Hey. No man-handling Kai, fangirls." Masa had gotten to the scene rather quickly when he had spotted the two girls attacking Kai. Now they hung suspended in the air, Masa having grabbing a hold of them around their waists.

"Hey, leggo you big idiot!" Miho snarled. "Fangirls? That's my-"

"Brother." Kai quickly spoke up loudly above Miho's voice. "I'm their brother! Let them down!"

Masa quickly deposited the girls into Kai's arms. Erena held on, afraid that the big man would pick her up again while Kai had to hold Miho back who was ready to lay the smack-down on someone three times her size.

"I'ma kick your ass-"

"Miho, Miho, STOP!" Kai growled. Kai was so wrapped up in holding his youngest sister back that she didn't hear Ray approaching.

"And who are these girls, KAI?" Ray glowered at Kai.

"It's not what you think!" Kai protested immediately. "These are my sisters!"

"Oh." Ray blinked. They looked nothing like Kai! One still had the chubby cheeks of a grade-schooler, while the other girl on Kai's arm was... significantly more grown up.

'Calm down.' Ray had to talk herself down as she watched the one sister's ample boobs squishing against Kai as she hugged him. 'Calm down. They're siblings. There's nothing going on...'

"Ray! It's Ray, it's actually the charismatic Diva!" Miho squealed, finally managing to free herself from Kai's grasp. Now she was just standing there, shaking in excitement. Ray! The most popular idol in ALL OF JAPAN! Right here in front of her! She was so pretty!

"Wow!" Erena finally let go of Kai to stare at Ray, hands clasped in front of her and stars in her eyes. "Ray! THE Ray! The most popular idol in all of Japan!"

"Hi." Ray smiled her most charming and gracious smile for Kai's sisters. If there was anybody in the world she wanted to impress, it would be Kai's family. Erena and Miho swooned a little bit.

"Um..." Kai cleared his throat. He had to talk to his sisters but it would be rude to not introduce them; plus they would make a fuss if he didn't. "Ray, my sisters. This is Miho and that's Erena."

"Yoroshiku!" The two girls chirped. If they had tails, they would be wagging them.

"Oh, Kai." Ray giggled, reaching out to stroke his sisters' heads. "Your sisters are so cute!"

Miho turned to look at Kai, barely able to speak as she squeaked out gibberish that Kai didn't understand at all. Erena was next, looking at Kai and purring in bliss as Ray continued to stroke her head.

"Alright. Now that we all know each other, give us a second." Kai grabbed his sisters and dragged them away. When they were out of ear-shot, he spun them around to look at him.

"How do you know-"

Erena held up Nami's cellphone, her little ice-cream cellphone accessory swinging back and forth, mocking Kai.

"We read your messages!" Erena and Miho said together, grinning.

"Don't tell mom and dad! Or Ichiro or Shouta! OR ANYONE!" Kai half-ordered, half-pleaded.

"We won't say anything." Erena smiled shyly at Kai. "I think you're so cool, Nami!"

"Yeah! Wicked cool! Like cooler than Kamen Rider!" Miho punched the air, hyper with excitement. This was so awesome! It seemed impossible, but her older sister was even COOLER now!

"And it's Kai when I'm like this." Kai smiled in exasperation at his sisters, hugging Erena in relief. They weren't going to say anything. They accepted him. "So you guys are okay with me like this?"

"We're okay with you when you're anything. Even when you're not cool." Erena rolled her eyes and hugged her 'brother' extra tight, briefly. "You should know that, stupid."

"Three older brothers! Wow!" Miho was still dancing from foot to foot. She suddenly stopped and giggled. "It's like, nothing has changed."

"Why you-" Nami growled good-naturedly.

"This is so cool, you're like Miho's idol of the moment!" Erena grinned at her older brother, distracting him from kicking Miho. "We had been saying how much Kai reminded us of you!"

"Not just me! Erena likes you too!" Miho quickly pointed out. When the two sisters had caught a Persona interview on TV, they had immediately felt an instant connection to the blonde member of Persona. Shouta, who had been watching with them, had also felt like this person on television had seemed really familiar but he hadn't wanted to stand around discussing boy idols with his much-younger sisters.

Miho had thought Kai was so cool when the interviewer had brought up Kai's fiery nature and how he was supposed to be a good fighter. She liked how out-spoken he was and how he seemed kind of protective of Kuu and Riku. Erena, though she didn't want to admit it, liked Kai for exactly the same qualities too.

"Kai?" Ray had approached again, wondering what they were talking about. Were they talking about her? Did Kai's sisters like her? ...Why was Erena hugging Kai again? "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." Kai smiled. "I'm just yelling at them for following me."

"Are you friends with our brother?" Erena asked, eyes shining.

"Well," Ray giggled. "We're actually-"

"JUST FRIENDS!" Kai hollered, blushing.

"Are we really?" Ray pouted her lips at Kai. The blonde looked away, not wanting to be caught by those puppy dog eyes. "You mean you kiss other people randomly all the time and not just me-"

"NO, SHUT UPPPPPP!" Kai squealed, pouncing on Ray and trying to get her to be quiet. But his sisters had already heard, their mouths hanging open in utter shock. Their sister was dating the ultra-popular, super-charismatic Diva?

"YOU GUYS ARE DATING?" Erena was slightly excited and a little bit annoyed. Nami was dating someone? Even though it was Ray, NO-ONE was good enough for her sister!

"Woah!" Miho was literally just jumping with glee. Nami was just ULTRA cool! Kai chased Ray around, hollering at her to stop telling his sisters about their relationship while Miho chased after them, giggling like the little girl she was. Only Erena stood there solemnly, trying to be okay with the fact that Nami, who had always put her sisters first, now had someone else. Nami HAD left the house to go see Ray.

"Okay," Kai huffed, unable to to catch Ray who was hiding behind an amused Hiro. "I'm not playing this game any more. I'm leaving."

"No!" Ray whined, still staying safely behind Hiro. "Don't leave!"

Kai took a few steps away, prompting Ray to leave her hiding place behind Hiro to chase after him. Hearing footsteps coming up behind him, Kai stopped, spinning back around to grab Ray's hand. "Gotcha."

Ray slapped him playfully. "That was a mean trick!"

"Some people are just easy to trick and they blame other people." Kai grinned. It felt like they were back in Okinawa again, that same feeling of comfort he felt as he taught Ray how to swim.

"So are we going home?" Erena came forward, arms crossed. She didn't like this love-love atmosphere!

"I'm coming too!" Ray tightened her hold on Kai's hand. "As your girlfriend, I should meet your parents."

"Oh, hell no. You really don't wanna." Kai made a face. There was no way he was going to bring Ray back and explain, well, EVERYTHING to his family. But... they COULD go somewhere else. He didn't want to leave Ray alone today, remembering how sad Ray had looked inside the van. "Give me my hand back for a bit, I have to call someone."

Kai dialed a number and there was an immediate answer.

"Moshi-moshhhhh."

"Yo, Riku..."

"OH MY GOD! RIKU!" Miho was THIS close to hyperventilating. Erena, meanwhile stood there, watching Kai walk a bit away from them. She was also watching Ray watching Kai. That was HER sister.

"So have you two been dating for a while?" Erena asked conversationally.

"Not that long." Ray blushed. "We went to Okinawa together, though."

"Oh, I heard about that." Erena wracked her brains, remembering some of the gossip magazines and papers her friends had brought to school. Then she remembered who had called previously. "Did you see Maeda Atsuko there?"

Erena watched Ray's reaction carefully, seeing how the Diva shuttered and all the warmth left her eyes. Erena was extremely good at reading people and even someone like Ray, who was a professional at hiding her feelings, Erena knew.

"My brother's apparently really good friends with her!" Erena said cheerfully, taking a bit gossip and using her own imagination. "She called him recently and she said they would probably meet up soon!"

"Did she now?" Ray thought she had settled her differences with Atsuko. Apparently not as she felt jealousy rising up though she fought valiantly to keep it down. They were just friends. Maeda and Kai were just. good. FRIENDS. Kai was allowed to have friends. "Well. That's good for them. Excuse me."

Ray had to distance herself. It wasn't like Erena knew how much Ray disliked Atsuko so she couldn't blame the young girl for mentioning the quiet actress who had managed to monopolize a lot of Kai's time in Okinawa. But Ray just couldn't help being angry... she had thought maybe their friendship would end after Okinawa. Apparently, the two kept in touch.

"Alright!" Kai approached the group again and Ray tried to smile.

"Are you leaving?" The thought of Kai leaving somewhere made her feel horrible. Especially if he was leaving to see Maeda.

"Well, yeah." Kai shrugged. "Are you done here?"

Ray tilted her head to the side, confused. "What?"

"Well, I'm sure everybody wants to go back to their families for Obon. Why don't you come with me?" When Ray was still looking at him in confusion, Kai sighed and went up to her, flashing Ray a mischievous smile.

"Play hooky with me. It'll be a special 'Kai' assignment." Kai recited, remembering how Ray had tried to get him to skip out on a meeting in Okinawa.

"Really?" Ray was beside herself with happiness. "Really?"

"Really." Kai drawled. "We're going to Riku's house." His youngest sister, overhearing the news, was tugging at his arm excitedly and he gave a dramatic sigh. "Oh, alright. Erena and Miho can come, too.""WASSHOI!" Miho danced around, singing something she made up off the top of her head. "Hankyou jikkyou saikyou BROTHER wa KAI! KAI! KAI! WASSHOI!"

Kai shook his head at Miho's antics and watched Ray run off to announce that she was leaving. He caught sight of Erena, scuffing at the ground with the point of her shoe. Erena looked glum.

"Come here." Kai said gruffly and when she got close, he hugged his younger sister tightly. Erena buried her face in Kai's sweater, smelling the familiar scent of her sister's clothes, suddenly feeling very small again. "I'm sorry I haven't been around and I know I'm not the best communicator. But you know if things are bothering you or you need to talk to me, I'm a phone call or a mail away, right? I'll call my friends and have them talk with that asshole, Hario. And if those guys DARE bother you again, you call me and I'll drop everything and come back to beat them up PERSONALLY."

Erena nodded, clutching at her sister's shirt. Miho, seeing that her sisters were hugging, jumped in, too.

"GROUP HUG! I'M SO HAPPY!" squealed Miho.

* * *

endnote: If y'all don't know what Miho was singing... you dunno Team B and I suggest you GET ON THE BOAT. I love Miho. And all of you should, too. That is all. Oh, I love Erena too. But talking about her is... painful. The wound is still fresh and the huge decrease in average boob size in AKB48 makes me hang my head in sorrow.


	21. Chapter 21

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 21

author's note: party at Riku's!

language notes? I'm sure y'all know these words but just in case:

yakiniku - grilled meats. Like korean bbq.

katsudon - rice with fried pork cutlets, eggs, etc.

why am I giving you people translation notes? GOOGLE THESE TERMS YOURSELF! *flips a table* why am I so angry? Because I'm not in Singapore to see the AKB48 girls as they run around conquering Asia. Boo hoo hoo hoo... I'M SO SAAAAAAAD!

* * *

Hinata was a mess when she arrived at Asahi's house. Instead of going to the door, Hinata crouched at the front of the house, hidden behind the short brick wall that surrounded the small property.

"Stop... crying..." Hinata hiccupped angrily, rubbing at her face. She couldn't stop the tears from coming as she let out another sob, she didn't want Asahi to see her like this, weak and tearful. At least her phone wasn't ringing any more, she had turned that off after Lisa had called her for the hundredth time.

"Hey." A pleasant alto voice made her jump a bit and Hinata looked up into Riku's face, who was smiling at her gently. "Why aren't you coming in? Did you eat already? We just finished dinner but I could heat something up for you if you haven't."

"Riku? I-I ate al-already." Hinata crouched there stupidly as Riku took out a hankerchief from his pocket and started wiping the lolita's face gently. "Why are you in b-boy clothes?"

Riku smirked at the loli. "Kai's bringing Ray along. We have to get you changed into your Kuu clothes. Can you do that?"

"Y-Yeah." Hinata nodded, voice hitching though the tears having somewhat subsided. She spent a few minutes collecting herself first, with Riku waiting patiently for her to gather herself together. When Hinata had called, Asahi had immediately brushed off Hinata's attempts to explain her state and insisted it was okay for Hinata to come over immediately. Asahi had gotten a phone call from Kai almost right after asking if he could bring his sisters and Ray over and Asahi had been unable to refuse him either. She told him to take his time, though, since Hinata was coming too; she didn't want their arrivals to coincide since Hinata wasn't in character yet and also wasn't feeling well.

"Come on," Riku sneaked her into the house. Asahi had actually told her family to let Hinata compose herself first before saying hi since she was a little bit upset. Riku could see now that what he had said before was a bit of an understatement. The loli looked like someone in the family had died. He didn't ask about it, knowing that when Hinata was ready, she would tell Riku what was wrong.

Asahi's room was a typical room of a girl her age. She had posters of idols up on her walls, stuffed animals all around, miscellaneous make-up and creams, a low table in the middle to do homework and a bed, forgoing the traditional futon. Here, in this girlish room, Riku helped Hinata out of her dress, helping her undo the many laces and buttons of her clothing. Hinata seemed clumsy and slow, like a child, really. Of course, her pace wasn't helped by the fact that she was still crying and hiccuping uncontrollably.

Just in her petticoat now, Hinata closed her eyes, not knowing why she was in so much pain. Her usual loli clothes didn't make her feel any better at all when they usually worked like an emotional suit of armour for her. All the bad things she felt bounced off these laces, colours, catches, frills and buttons. She was a princess in these clothes. Princesses didn't get hurt, princesses were loved and protected... nobody left princesses. Even Sleeping Beauty, put under a spell, had her entire castle with her. All princesses got a happy ending... well, Disney princesses anyways.

Hinata didn't need a happy ending... she just needed to be a little bit happy, some times. She was happy. She was grateful for everything that was coming her way. Persona's popularity was climbing, she had made friends, she had made an enemy. But would they all leave her?

'Maybe I'm not Disney princess material...' Hinata's thoughts brought a fresh wave of tears. She was even more depressed now. Tears still streaking down her face, Hinata ran her fingers through her hair absentmindedly, her own way of trying to make herself feel better. When she was little, her mother used to comb her fingers through her hair whenever she woke up from nightmares. She wished her mother was here now.

Hinata wished Lisa was here too. But most of all, she wished with all her might that Lisa didn't have to leave.

Arms suddenly enfolded her from behind, strong arms wrapping around her, surrounding her with warmth.

"Riku-"

"Shhh-shhh..." Riku shushed his friend. He held her, enveloped her in the feelings he had for her, quietly telling Hinata in his own way that Riku was there. Asahi was there. And whether this person holding her was Riku or Asahi, both of them loved her and cared about her. "I'm here. And if Nami were here, she'd tell you the same thing."

Hinata turned around in Riku's grasp and flung her arms around Riku's shoulders, sobbing her heart out. She had been trying to keep it all inside, bottle up the feelings that got past her lolita-armour, like she used to. She would pretend all of these ugly things she felt, all of the sadness she felt was pushed into a huge bottle and she had thrown it away, into the ocean. Unfortunately, these bottles of badness always floated back to her. That time at the Indies, some of those bottles around her had exploded in her face and then there was that... unpleasantness that just had to be let out.

Riku didn't know what was going on at all, but all he knew was that Hinata needed him and he held her tight as she cried, loud sobbing cries muffled into his shirt.

"I'm right here, Hina. I'm right here." Riku said soothingly, stroking the back of Hinata's head. His unintentional use of Lisa's nickname for Hinata made the lolita cry even harder. After what felt like forever, Hinata finally pushed away, hiccuping. But the tears were gone and now there was a smile on her face as she looked up at Riku.

"Feeling better?" Riku stroked Hinata's hair.

"Much." Hinata beamed at her tremulously. A knock on the door caught their attention and it opened to allow a blonde head to pop in.

"Hey." Kai grinned at them, slipping in and closing the door behind him. He walked over and without another word, grabbed Hinata in an awkward, quick hug that was brief, but conveyed all of Kai's support for Hinata.

"Stupid." Kai said clumsily. He had never been good at comforting people, only able to handle his sisters. "Don't cry."

That only caused Hinata to blubber more and Riku shot Kai a dirty look.

"Good job, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot, you're an idiot!"

Hinata finally laughed at their good-natured ribbing. Kai grinned at the loli and took out his handkerchief to wipe at Hinata's face too. "Come on. Lets bring Kuu out."

While Persona got ready upstairs, the Wakamatsus and Miho sat in the living room, staring at Ray with stars in their eyes. In tight jeans, a simple v-neck shirt and a long button-up knit sweater, Ray in casuals still looked every inch Ray-the-superstar-idol. Ray was, surprisingly, on her best behaviour. She didn't really care about making a good impression on Riku's family, but Kai's sisters were another matter. Unfortunately, one of Kai's sister wasn't having none of that. Erena seemed significantly subdued compared to the others.

"Are you okay?" Ray asked Erena. The girl had been looking at her strangely ever since they started heading to Riku's place.

Erena smiled weakly, emotions warring inside her. It was awesome and just crazy cool that Ray was sort of dating Kai (Kai had given a quick explanation to his sisters while Ray was getting ready), but it sort of didn't sit well with Erena at all.

It had been a little bit harder for Erena when Nami had left; they had gone to the same school together since they were little and Nami had always been there to support her. Nami was just a couple years older than her and had watched out for Erena as best as she can. Erena was a diligent student and not very special, in her honest opinion. But because of her... growth, she got a lot of attention. The first time she had been teased about it by some boys, she had burst into tears and Nami had come running when Erena's friends had gone off to get her. Her older sister had managed to make the BOYS cry and gotten in trouble with the teachers for that. Her sister was her hero and constant protector and when Nami left to become an idol, Erena felt like a big hole had been ripped in her reality.

'She's MY sister.' Erena thought stubbornly. Miho was going to be no help, Erena could see, as she was practically sitting on Ray making cute little grunts as Ray scratched her back. 'What is she, an animal?'

"So... soo... so so..." Kouhei was trying to make conversation, but it was really difficult. There were girls in the house! All of them were really cute and one of them was Ray! Before they came, he had gone upstairs to change his clothes and do up his hair in anticipation for Kuu and Kai's arrival, he really hadn't expected a big star like Ray to show up! RAY! In his house! "So... how are you?"

The Wakamatsu parents giggled politely behind their hands. Their son was so adorable!

"I'm fine." Ray smiled kindly, feeling just a bit antsy. Where was Kai? Why were they taking so long?

"I can eat more than N-Kai!" Miho announced to Ray, just managing to correct herself. "I can eat TWO AND A HALF bowls of rice!"

"Well, that's very impressive." Ray patted Miho on top of her head. The girl's smile was practically blinding and Ray had to blink a few times to get rid of the black spots in her vision from looking at something so bright. Miho then turned that smile on her other older sister, bouncing up and down on the sofa.

Miho boasted. "Ray says I'm very impressive!"

"At all you can eat yakiniku, N-Kai eats three bowls of rice. And if he was really hungry, he goes and eats four big bowls of katsudon." Erena shot back, just managing to correct herself on Nami's name, too. Miho pouted and Erena suddenly regretted bursting Miho's bubble. Miho had only wanted to impress Ray.

"Well, one day you'll beat Kai for sure." Ray saved the situation from getting bad. Miho nodded furiously, attention away from Erena now.

"I'll eat a lot and then get taller than Kai! Then will you come see us more? My older brother, Shouta, has a picture of you on his wall! I was listening-I accidentally heard Ichiro's girlfriend say she likes your style and I saw an interview where you ate icecream! I love icecream too! My favourite flavour is EVERYTHING!" Miho blabbered on, making no sense whatsoever but not seeming to care at all. She turned to Riku's parents now, eyes shining as she suddenly remembered she was in the company of an idol's family. "I LOVE RIKU SO MUCH! YOUR HOUSE IS VERY NICE!"

"Well, aren't you just ADORABLE!" Mama Wakamatsu cooed. She sometimes felt nostalgic for Asahi and Kouhei's childhood and Miho, with her bright-eyed fervour and baby-fat reminded her so much of her own children at that age. Granted, they were a lot less excitable, but all children were sort of alike. Sort of. "Would you like some candy? Or cake? Maybe I have some icecream in the fridge..."

"I LOVE RIKU'S FAMILY!" Miho was exactly like an overexcited chihuahua, bouncing off the couch to follow Mama Wakamatsu to the kitchen. the mention of candy and cakes had given Riku's mom a special place in Miho's heart.

"Mama-" Kouhei blushed and corrected himself. "Mom. You're being creepy."

"Nonsense!" Mama Wakamatsu's voice floated back into the living room. "Oh! We do have icecream! Taro flavour!"

"Hey, hey, now leave some for me," Papa got off the couch to go to the kitchen, ready to save his favourite flavour from the little bouncing girl who had ensnared his wife and was wrapping Mama Wakamatsu around her pudgy fingers. "Would you starve me, Mama?"

"You need to lose some weight anyways, honey."

"MY DADDY SAYS LOSING WEIGHT IS FOR LOSERS!"

"Oh-ho, good pun... Miho-chan, right?" Papa Wakamatsu enjoyed bad jokes, but really liked it when people fought for his right to eat as much as he liked.

"Oh my god, Miho." Erena slapped a hand across her face. Her baby sister could be so embarassing some times! It was just her, Kouhei and Ray now. Kouhei, uncomfortable with being the only boy in the room, excused himself to bring some refreshments for the ladies.

"So," Ray smiled at Erena. "You're the second youngest, right?"

"Yes." Erena said hesitantly then she fell silent again, frowning down at her hands. Ray studied the younger girl curiously. Erena wasn't at all like one of her fans, she didn't seem like she was playing cool, or overwhelmed by her and fangirling like her younger sister... what was bothering her? A worrying thought entered Ray's head... what if Erena didn't like her? Before she could think further on that line, the sound of steps coming down the stairs drew her thoughts and eyes to the entrance to the room closest to the stairs. Riku entered first, asking about his parents. Kuu was next, his face hidden in a pair of sunglasses. Sunglasses? Indoors? Really? He wasn't THAT big of a star that he needed to hide his identity! Even Ray had forgone her sunglasses today! Kai was last to come, walking in in his own casual way. The way he looked around, before his eyes settled on Ray gave the Diva the tingles.

"Keeping out of trouble?" Kai smiled at Ray then turned to his sister who was seething a little bit inside because of the attention HER sister was showing to the big star. "Erena, where's Miho?"

As if to answer the question, the Wakamatsu's showed up again, bringing icecream for everyone and Miho, who was now attached to Mama as she fed the young girl icecream.

"MIHO!" Kai barked out, embarassed. "I'm sorry Wakamatsu-san, my sister's still a bit of a baby-"

"I'm not a baby!" Miho, with ice cream all around her mouth protested grumpily. "You're a baby. I'm all grown up. Beat up people YOUR age... can eat more than you..."  
"It's quite alright, she's a dear!" Mama gushed. Miho was very obedient and fun when there was icecream around. Mama Wakamatsu had already given the little girl a whole big bowl of icecream!

"She probably scammed you out of half a carton of icecream. Come here, Miho." Kai ordered. Pulling Miho away to the washroom and excusing himself from the room, he came back with a cleaned up Miho. To Erena's satisfaction, Kai immediately came over and sat beside Erena, seating Miho on his other side. Erena could see that Ray was not too happy with this seating arrangement and was slightly happy about that. OF COURSE her sister would sit with her and Miho! It was only normal!

"So, um... Kuu-san." Kouhei addressed Kuu as politely as possible. Riku's brother was ecstatic at the sight of Kuu who was, in his opinion, THE coolest member of the group! The fact that this member of Persona was wearing sunglasses INDOORS made him even COOLER!

"Yes?" Kuu tried his best to smile, sitting on the floor in front of Riku. He was wearing sunglasses to hide his eyes, which were still puffy and red. Kuu felt kinda foolish in his sunglasses.

"Um... umm..."

Riku watched his brother in amusement as he sputtered, trying to think of something to say.

"Do you w-wanna sit on m-m-me?" Kouhei stuttered, then quickly tried to correct himself, mortified. "I MEAN! Uh, my c-c-chair! On my chair!"

Kouhei got up, motioning to his seat clumsily. Even Ray had to smile at the young teen's obvious need to please his idol.

"Thank you, but I'll be fine here." Kuu said firmly. He still needing to be close to the leader of Persona to feel safe and anchored. But when Kuu saw Kouhei wilt a bit, the secret loli tried to strike up a conversation with Kouhei.

"So you're Kouhei, right?" Kuu saw how Kouhei tried to sit up taller at his chair. "Riku tells me you play a lot of PS3. What kind of games do you like?"

Given a topic he was actually passionate and knowledgable about, Kouhei started jabbering away on the latest games he was currently into and Kuu, surprisingly quite knowledgable about te gaming world, kept up quite nicely. They found common ground in the Biohazard franchise and Miho was drawn into the conversation since she LOVED anything to do with monsters and horror. She left Kai's side to sit by Kuu; Kouhei taking Miho's lead and moving off the couch to sit closer to Kuu, too.

"Well, look at them all get along." Riku smiled and squeezed Kuu's shoulder briefly. He was worried about Kuu, of course. Kai was also looking at Kuu fondly as the third member seemed to completely forget about his problems from before. Papa Wakamatsu thought that the three looked very much like a family unit with Riku being the mother, Kai the father and Kuu the child. It was very cute!

"Well," Mama Wakamatsu wasn't concentrating on the little Persona family, but on Kai and Ray. For some reason, Mama reminded everyone who looked at her very much of a cat who had cornered a mouse. "I heard you two were dating?"

"Mama!" Riku gasped, a little bit shocked that his mother was being so forward.

"Mama?" Kai raised an eyebrow at Riku and smirked, even though he was blushing at the question Mama Wakamatsu had asked him.

"Yes. Mama." Riku glowered at Kai. "So yeah, you two are dating?"

"Traitor." Kai mouthed to Riku, his eyes narrowing to slits. Ray, meanwhile had moved over to Kai's side, giggling. She had NEVER been in a situation like this before! And even though she knew these were Riku's parents, it felt to her like she was meeting Kai's parents! this would be good practice!

"We are." Ray replied shyly to Mama's question. Kai sputtered wordlessly as even the three talking about video games stopped to grin at the pair of 'lovebirds'. Ray took one of Kai's hands in her own while Erena kept a firm grip on Kai's other hand, glowering a bit at Ray. Miho was the only one who noticed and snickered a bit. While both sisters were very attached to their older sister, Erena was much more attached to her sister than Miho and really REALLY disliked it when Nami paid more attention to anyone else but her and Miho. Nami didn't know how jealous Erena would get some times, but Miho did. One time, Miho had seen Erena putting pins into some guy's shoes who seemed to have a little crush on Nami!

"We... sort of. Are." Kai struggled to get the words out without dying of embarassment. Well. He DID sort of tell Ray they needed to take things slow... but by slow, he meant like, not moving forward with this idea at all. Obviously, Ray had other plans.

"I didn't hear anything about your relationship in magazines. And this is the first time I've heard about it and you haven't even brought her back to see mom and dad yet." Erena said grumpily. "So it's not OFFICIAL official."

Kai nodded, grabbing on to the lifeline her sister had given her. "Right. Not official. We're SORT OF dating. But you know-"

"Well, the press wouldn't be a problem. I don't mind setting up something to discuss our relationship with them and make it public. Now, when are you going to let me meet your parents?" Ray pinned Kai with a hungry look. Official. She liked that word. And when she met his parents, it would be practically written-on-paper official! Kai was panicking, feeling both girl and woman on either side of him squeezing his hand painfully. Ray wanted to meet his parents? Tell the press? HELL NO. He couldn't allow it!

"Nonononononono. You can't do either of that!" After the negative response, he could feel every pair of eye in the room on him. Erena and Ray had both stopped squeezing his hands and Ray had actually let go of it, stung by his reply.

"You don't want me to meet your parents?" Ray asked softy. "And why don't you want to make our relationship public?"

"No! It's-" The disapproving gaze of Mama and Papa Wakamatsu was making Kai sweat. What the hell! Why was he in trouble? "It's... I... need to... meet your parents first?" Kai slowly gained in confidence, feeling bad for what he was saying. He knew Ray's situation with her family, but this was the only way out! "I've got to meet YOUR parents first. I think it's only right. I mean, they are your only family. And to tell the press before our parents even know..."

Erena was back to squeezing Kai's hand like she wanted to crush it and Ray had grabbed his hand again, gently, though.

"That's very sweet of you to want to meet my parents, but I don't know if that's possible." Ray said hesitantly. Kai smiled at her and brought her hand up to briefly hug it against his chest, forgetting that he was supposed to be making excuses to put Ray off. He wanted it to be possible to meet her parents. He truly wanted Ray's parents to care about their daughter.

"It's fine. We're taking this slow, remember?" The tension in the room subsided and everyone smiled at Kai for saying the right words, forgetting that Kai was actually Nami, a girl. Everyone except Erena, Miho, Riku and Kuu. Riku and Kuu were trying not to grin too hard, afraid their faces would stay that way. Miho was confused... wasn't... Nami a girl? Why was she dating another girl? She didn't get it even though Nami had told her briefly what was going on! And Erena...

"OW! Erena!" Kai tugged his hand out of Erena's grasp. What the hell! It felt like Erena wanted to pulverize his paw! Her little moue of discontent stalled any further rebukes from Kai though, as Erena crossed her arms grumpily.

"Okay..." Kai sighed, never able to quite get Erena's moods right away, it'll take him a while to figure out his little sister was on a little jealousy kick.

"Hey, Kouhei, lets break out the PS3. Since you haven't finished Biohazard 5, lets do that now!" Kuu took pity on Kai and distracted everyone. The whole family agreed heartily. Even Mama Wakamatsu liked Biohazard. She didn't like playing, but she loved watching other people play. Honestly, movies were so horrible nowadays only gaming stories held her interest.

"Kai," Ray, meanwhile, was pulling Kai to the kitchen saying that they needed to talk about something. Everybody was politely accepting Ray's excuse to be alone with Kai, Riku and Kuu deliberately not meeting Kai's desperate gaze. When Erena tried to get up to follow them, she found her way blocked by her younger sister.

"Erena! Erena!" Miho pulled Erena down to whisper in the older girl's ear. "Nami is a girl, right?"

"Of course she is!" Erena wracked her brains, remembering when they were small, all the girls would bathe together in the big furo. Huh. WAS Nami a girl? Erena really didn't remember!

While Erena was distracted, Ray had disappeared with Kai to the kitchen. Playfully, she grabbed both the blonde's hands and placed them around her waist backing Kai up so he was leaning against the fridge and she was leaning against him.

"Did you really mean that?" Ray asked Kai, eyes wide and shining. She had her arms looped around Kai's neck, her heart pounding. "You want to meet my parents? And you want me to meet your parents before we go public?"

"Y-yeah." Kai shrugged. He wasn't LYING... he was just sure that he would never get to sit down and formally meet Ray's parents! And what the hell was he supposed to do when she looked at him like that? All hopeful and wide-eyed! He couldn't say no to her! DAMN KUU AND RIKU!

"Kai, you know that's impossible, right?" Ray sighed. It was impossible. The last time she had seen her parents or even heard from them was her grandfather's funeral. Then, they had only shown up briefly, nodded at her like she was a stranger, exchanged a few 'how are you's and 'fine, thank you's, placed a hand on her shoulder and left after the funeral.

"It'll be fine." Kai soothed the Diva.

"It's not possible." Ray said forlornly. They would NEVER be official! And why did they need her parents anyways? After all this time, she had ceased looking for their approval and they hadn't contacted her except for the odd phone calls.

"It is. I'll make it possible." Kai said sharply. He had to squash down uncharitable thoughts about the Diva's parents. Who does that to their children? Ray couldn't be more than a couple years older than him!

"How old are you?" Kai suddenly asked. He remembered reading the songstress' stats in a magazine somewhere, but that had seemed so long ago.

"Twenty." Ray answered, smiling. "My birthday passed a while ago. March 6th."

Kai thought about it a bit then asked another question. "Ray's not your real name, is it?"

Ray laughed lightly, giving Kai his answer.

"Right, so what's your real name?" Kai asked, suddenly eager to know and feeling a bit stupid. He was her boyfriend, for god's sake! Sort of, anyways. He didn't even know all the really basic information! Wracking his brain, he finally remembered something he read in a special on Ray that Nami had read a long time ago. "It's not really Takigawa Hanako, is it?"

"My real name is Fujino Reiko." Ray leaned forward, lips against the side of Kai's face. The Diva had guarded the secret of her name quite well but gave up her name to Kai immediately. "Don't repeat that information to anyone. Ever. Okay?"

"Okay." Kai promised seriously. Ray trusted him with this secret. He would definitely keep it.

"What about you?" Ray asked, tilting her head to the side cutely. Kai froze at that. What was he supposed to say? Shachou had made up fake real names for them, but it slipped the blonde's memory right now. And for some reason, he really didn't want to lie to Ray.

"Ano..."

Ray watched the blonde and let out a little sigh and a small, sad smile.

"It's fine. You don't have to tell me. I've hidden my own name for so long, I know all about wanting to keep secrets." Ray wished that one day, Kai would tell her his secret, even though she already knew it. It would mean so much more if she knew that he trusted her enough to tell her his real name. But it was a start. He hadn't lied to her and given her his fake real name. Ray smiled impishly at his breath of relief and pressed against him, holding him tight. Escape was impossible.

"You can keep your secret. But I want kisses." Ray's voice was just a low rumble as she closed her eyes and surprised Kai with a kiss, feeling thunderstruck as this simple press of lips against lips sent a shock through her body like she had been struck by lightning. Every nerve was on fire as she kissed those lips, ghosted across them, really. Her heart always felt like it would hammer through her chest when Ray was this close to Kai. It was too intense and the songstress had to pull back, taking fast, shallow breaths and watched in amusement as Kai's face slowly went an amusing shade of red. How was it possible for her to feel like this every time? Was Kai feeling the same as she was? Ray dipped down again, bolder now, for the second kiss. This time, she saw Kai close his eyes and felt him press forward just a bit, not quite responding but following her. Almost like how a sunflower followed the sun's journey across the sky. And she kissed him deeply, drank from that well that was Kai, filling herself up with the scent of him and the feel of him holding her. The touch of his nose against her cheek, his long eyelashes fluttering against her skin...

"Kaiiii..." cooed Ray. He had moved away from her now, pressing as much as he could against the fridge at his back. Her Kai was so shy! Nuzzling at Kai's ear, she let out a sigh of contentment that sent a shiver down the frozen blonde's spine.

This... this was where Ray wanted to be, where she could find herself, where she could find happiness.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY BROTHER?" Erena hissed loudly. She stood at the entrance to the kitchen, looking less than happy to find Kai trapped against the fridge with Ray sexually harassing him! The Diva had the decency to jump away, blushing a bit too. Caught by the younger sister! Even she knew when something was grossly inappropriate in front of young ones!

"Erena, calm down-" Kai was still completely red. Erena grabbed his forearm and pulled him to her, pushing him behind her.

"Why were you doing that to my s-brother?" Erena barely managed to correct herself. Ray found it cute that Kai's younger sister was trying to protect him. Or her, really. It must be hard for Erena to understand that her older siblings had feelings for Ray!

"Sorry, I didn't mean for you to see that." Ray said kindly. Erena just glared at Ray, holding up her arms to block Kai from Ray now.

"You leave him alone!" Erena just wanted to tell Ray that Kai was really Nami the girl in disguise! Then this pervert would leave her sister alone!

"Erena, it's fine. I'm alright." Kai soothed, rubbing his sister's shoulders. Before things could escalate, Kai was saved by the doorbell.

"I'm gonna go get that," Kai left the kitchen with Erena following and Ray close behind. How the hell did he get into a situation like that? He was never going to be able to explain this to his sister! Kai ran for the front door, hoping whoever it was was going to distract his sister and Ray from him-

"YOU!" Kai gaped at the person at the door. Kouhei had beaten Kai to the door and was waving this new arrival in, looking a little bummed at the sight of the new arrival.

"Kai-san? What are you doing here?" Jiro blinked at Kai.

"I should be asking you that." Kai scowled at the paparazzo. Ray had also spotted Jiro, immediately recognizing him as one of the photogs that kept hounding her. Didn't she ban him from TV Tohto?

"THE CHARISMATIC DIVA, RAY!" Jiro spotted Ray behind Erena and immediately started patting himself down for a camera. Not having a tool of his trade on him, he took out his cellphone and flipped it open, hoping that his phone camera would do. Kai immediately grabbed Jiro by the front of his shirt, stopping him.

"Snap a picture of her and I'll kill you." Kai threatened. He was like a small guard dog. Nowhere near as big as Hiro, but doing the job quite well as Jiro gulped and tucked his phone back into his pocket.

"Jiro!" Riku was at the door, frowning at the young man. He had caught the end of that. "No taking pictures. Ray's our guest."

"The opportunities I miss!" Jiro threw his hands up into the air in chagrin. Here was the PERFECT photo op! And he wasn't allowed to take pictures!

"I'm serious." Riku warned her childhood friend. "This is a no-photo event. Even my parents aren't taking photos. If you want, you can ask for autographs."

Jiro glanced over at Ray and Kai who LOOKED at him, daring him to ask.

"Ah... no thanks." Jiro said meekly and followed Riku into the living room. Kai rolled his eyes, grumbling about the stupid photographer. He was shaken out of his grumblings when Erena caught his hand and started tugging him towards the front door.

"I want to go." Erena announced. "Right now. I wanna go."

"That's rude, Erena." Kai frowned at his sister. "And come on, we're having fun, right?"

"YOU and RAY are having fun." Erena glowered at Kai. "What is up with that anyways?"

"I told you already!" Kai hissed at Erena desperately. The situation was awkward enough! Did his sister really wanted to ask about it? He had already explained it the best he could and told his sisters not to ask!

Erena held on to Kai's arm, getting up on tiptoes to whisper into her brother's ear. "Namiiii... I don't want her all over you!"

"Ray," Kai looked over at the charismatic Diva pleadingly. "Could you please keep Miho company? I'm going to talk to Erena alone."

"Well, are you sure you don't want me to help explain? I could, you know. Explain, that is." Ray offered.

"I don't want any explanations." Erena muttered. "I wanna go home."

"We'll be fine." Kai's words sounded quite unconvincing when paired with Erena's little 'ha!' at his reassurance.

"Well, call me if you need me, okay?" Ray smiled at Erena apologetically before going back into the living room where they were settling down for some gaming time. As soon as Ray left to see to Miho, Kai pulled Erena back to the kitchen.

"Erena, look," Kai let go of Erena's arm and started pacing the length of the kitchen, which wasn't that big. "What Ray and I have is just... I gotta keep up a pretense, you know?"

"I don't know." Erena crossed her arms, obstinate.

"It's for work-"

"Is this why you don't want to come home? Because you're having so much fun with Ray?" Erena's lower lip was pouted out so much it made her look like an adorable duck. Kai couldn't help chuckling a little bit and caught Erena's face between his hands, rubbing her cheeks.

"Stop being jealous." Kai was slow, but not THAT slow.

"I'm not." Erena protested glumly. "It's just, you're not home any more and then you're hanging out with Ray and Maeda Atsuko's calling you-"

"You areeeee jealous." Kai sing-songed and squished Erena's face some more while looking at his little sister seriously. "You have nothing to be jealous about! And you're a big girl now, you don't need me as much."

Erena pouted her lip out even more. "I need you all the time!"

Kai chuckled at Erena's childish selfishness. "You'll do fine without me, Erena. You're older now so you have to try to make do without me some times. And you're supposed to watch out for Miho for me now. I know you can do that, right?"

Erena shook her head.

"RIGHT?" Kai squished Erena's face some more and the second youngest Kawachi child nodded hesitantly. Kai's face softened at Erena's glum face and he finally stopped squishing Erena's face to put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm glad that you still want me around. But I have to do my own thing, Erena, I gotta find my own way. But no matter what, you have to remember this: I will never ever stop being your sister. I'm not around all the time but you KNOW you can always call for me. I'll always be there for you, even when you get old and you don't need me anymore, stupid."

Erena glomped onto her brother right now, burying her face in Kai's shirt, her voice coming out muffled. "YOU'RE stupid. I'll ALWAYS need you, Nami."

"It's Kai." Kai said gruffly. Man, his sisters were just ADORABLE.

Wait.

What had she said before?

"Maeda Atsuko?" Kai pushed Erena away and looked at his sister. "Acchan called?"

"When we had your phone." Erena suddenly remembered. "She told us to tell you to call her."

"And you tell me now?" Kai squished Erena's face between his hands again. "When did she call?"

"Before we went to the park and saw Ray." Erena looked sort of apologetic.

"Gotta call her back." Kai took out his cellphone, shaking his head at his sister. "Erena-"

"It was an accident!" Erena whined. What the hell! Wasn't Kai just giving her this whole 'big sister loves you!' speech? "Why is it that you're only back for a short time and you're just hanging out with your friends and talking to them on the phone and ignoring meeeeeeeee?"

Kai had called Atsuko and was right now pushing Erena's face away from him and kicking his younger sister none-to-gently towards the living room.

"Go see what how your sister's doing with Biohazard. You know she's afraid of scary games." Kai said distractedly, waiting for Atsuko to pick up the phone.

"No, *I'M* afraid of scary games!" Erena whined, not wanting to leave Kai. "She's scared of nothing. Kaiiii-"

"Hello?" Atsuko's voice completely destroyed all of Kai's patience with his sister.

"Hey, you." Kai grinned at the phone.

"Hey yourself. Took you long enough to call me back."

Kai could hear the smile in Atsuko's voice when she replied. Erena was unceremoniously kicked out of the kitchen, almost stumbling upon Kuu.

"Uh, sorry." Kuu had been just around the corner, eavesdropping on them. Kai motioned for Kuu to take Erena as he stayed in the kitchen, laughing a bit at something Atsuko said to him on the phone, now completely ignoring Erena.

"You suck!" Erena pouted while Kuu steered Kai's sister away from the kitchen. Finally, Erena shrugged him off and stomped over to sit beside Ray. The Diva smiled at her but tried not to move too much since she was currently being used as a backrest for Miho while she watched Kouhei play and called out hints since she'd played almost to finish already on her PS3 at home.

"Did you finish your talk?" Ray wasn't as dense as Kai. She had only needed a few seconds to think about everything before understanding that Erena was probably a little bit jealous of Kai paying attention Ray.

"We did." Erena smiled at Ray, all hostility gone. But she still looked glum.

"What's wrong?" Ray nudged her teasingly. "Kai didn't try to make one of his most favourite people in the world, happy?"

"He tried." Erena narrowed her eyes to slits. "Then he had to talk to Maeda Atsuko and he kicked me out of the kitchen."

"Maeda Atsuko?" It was Ray's turn to narrow her eyes. "He's in there talking to her right now? On the phone?"

"Yeah." Erena huffed. "Who does Maeda Atsuko think she is?"

"I know!" Ray was practically snarling. She would share her Kai... but Maeda Atsuko would ALWAYS be a sore point. Erena and Ray started grumbling to each other quietly, bonding over their now mutual dislike of Maeda Atsuko. Miho just rolled her eyes. Grown-ups were stupid, even idol ones.

"Ray, Erena! Shhh!" Miho scowled at the two aforementioned people who immediately obeyed the young girl. But upon seeing the zombies on screen, they screeched and hid their face.

"Babies." Miho tsked in disgust. "All of you are babies."

Jiro watched Ray and Erena using Miho as a shield to block the images and sounds they were hearing from the TV. Then he turned to watch Riku sitting a way's away from him, wistfully wishing that Riku would get scared and use HIM as a shield. And Jiro would step up and totally protect Asahi and she'd see what a man he was and how he was totally husband-material.

"You're being creepy." Riku caught the paparazzo watching him and grimaced at Jiro, repeating himself. "You're being creepy."

"We talked about this, Jiro." Papa Wakamatsu was reading a newspaper, once in a while peeking out behind it to watch the images on screen, then hiding again. He was a tad afraid of zombies. "If you're being creepy, we're going to take out the spray bottle."

"Yes, sir." Jiro sagged in his seat. He hated the spray bottle! The doorbell rang, interrupting his melancholy thoughts. Kouhei, at the sound, had thrust the controller into Kuu's hands and was up like a shot.

"I'll get it!"

"Kinda excitable, isn't he?" Kuu commented. "Is he expecting someone?"

"I dunno." Riku shrugged, getting up off the couch. "I'll go see who it is."

Everybody stayed seated, letting Riku go off to see who was at the door. Within a few seconds though, they all heard a blood-curdling scream coming from the de-facto leader of Persona. It sounded like he was being murdered!

"Honey? Baby girl, papa's on his way!" Papa was up like a shot and running to the door with Mama right behind him. Everyone else exchanged looks then jumped to their feet to run to the door too. Only Miho stayed seated.

"Awww! We're just about to get to a good part in the game!"

* * *

endnote: Who's at the door? I'm betting y'all know.


	22. Chapter 22

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 22

author's note: Took a while, didn't it? Sorry folks. RL has been tying me down and not being nice to me in general. I need a vacay, lol.

* * *

In response to Riku's soul-chilling scream, Yuko, the surprise guest at the door, beamed at him and gushed, "I'm happy to see you too!"

In a very nice dress that, to sum it in one sentence, was very meet-the-parents-ish; Yuko had tastefully applied make-up and seemed to have brought a lot of shopping bags with her.

"Oh ho!" Papa Wakamatsu had arrived within seconds of Riku's scream and he put a hand over his heart to still it's erratic beating. Really! Riku needed to not scream like that, he thought something had happened to his baby girl! "And what have we here? Is that... Oshima Yuko? OH MY GOD. It IS."

"Sir." Yuko gave an ultra polite bow. "I am extremely honoured and pleased to meet you and your esteemed wife."

"So polite!" Mama cooed, shaking Papa a bit. Riku glared at them.

"Oh my god." Riku could TOTALLY hear Kai talking on the phone as he smirked at Riku. The blonde had run out of the kitchen when he heard the tallest member of the group scream and now just stood there, laughing at Riku's predicament. "Yuko's here. This is HILARIOUS."

Riku shot Kai and Kuu a look of death while they were snickered behind Mama and Papa. Then, finally, Riku looked at Kouhei who was grinning like a madman and seemed to be the only Wakamatsu unsurprised at seeing Yuko.

"Did you do something?" Riku narrowed his eyes at Kouhei. He shrugged, still grinning.

"Maybe."

Riku narrowed his eyes and his brother. "I will KILL you."

The siblings were interrupted by Yuko poking her head into their little huddle with a grin.

"Darling, it's rude to not invite me in."

"That's because you're not going to be invited in." Riku snapped, grabbing hold of Yuko's elbow. He spun back on the crowd that was watching them in amusement and snarled at them. "Everyone back into the living room! GO!"

Riku's bad mood sent everyone running and the defacto leader of Persona pulled Yuko out of the house and slammed the front door. When he faced Yuko though, all the steam he had been building up left him at the look on Yuko's face. The girl looked so... excited. And hopeful.

"What are you doing here, Yuko?" Riku sighed. He had wanted to blast the dimpled actress into oblivion but how could he when Yuko was looking at her like THAT? Like a little puppy wagging it's stubby tail and waiting for it's master to give it treats! And it wasn't her fault that she was here. The blame belonged solely on Kouhei, Riku was sure.

"What do you mean?" Yuko's smile faltered a bit. "You invited me, right?"

"Yeah," Riku covered for Kouhei. For some reason, Riku didn't want Yuko to think that he didn't invite her. Yuko's hopeful smile was really beautiful and it was heart-breaking to think of crushing the girl's happiness.

"Well, then you should know I'm here to meet your family!" Yuko chirped, showing off the many packages she had. "I brought gifts! But... are you upset because I'm dressed weird? Should I have come in a pant-suit instead? I've never gone to meet the parents of my significant other."

'Or maybe I should tell her the truth.' Riku sighed internally as Yuko continued rambling excitedly about the preparations she had made for this event.

"Oh." Yuko seemed to suddenly notice something. "Why are you in your Riku outfit? Where's my Asahi?"

"Remember I told you a little bit about how people are looking for us? The reason I'm dressed like this at home right now is because of that reason." Riku sighed. He could see Yuko was worried and wanted to ask more questions but Riku waved away any questions irritably. "Just right now, I'm Riku. Goddamn, why is everyone at my house today?"

'Goddamn?' Riku thought, disappointed in himself. 'I need to stop hanging around Kai.'

"Yeah, I saw Ray here! Who invited her?"

"Kai." Riku shrugged when Yuko gave her a look. "Hey, take it up with him. It wasn't my idea to invite the charismatic Diva."

Riku seemed even grumpier as they talked about Ray so Yuko decided to change subjects. "I knew you had a brother but I didn't know you had sisters too! Holding out on me, darling!"

"Stop calling me that." Riku shuddered. "They're not my sisters. They're Kai's."

"He's just bringing EVERYONE over, isn't he? Oh, here, I got you this!" From out of one of her bags, she brought out flowers. Riku accepted them, struck speechless at the gesture. Yuko took this opportunity to rise up on tiptoes and whisper into Riku's ear.

"For my Asahi." giggled the actress. "I bought them cuz they were pretty and reminded me of you."

"I'm Riku." Riku took an appreciative sniff of the flowers, trying hard not to smile at Yuko's sweet-talk. It was very difficult though and Yuko grinned when she saw Riku's mouth pouting in a little moue, trying not to smile. The flowers were beautiful and multi-coloured, wrapped in newspaper and twine and Riku could tell that they were picked with thought and care and not by how much they cost. His good mood was broken, however, as Yuko sneaked a kiss, landing one on the corner of Riku's mouth.

"NO KISSING!" Riku smacked Yuko's arm a couple of times, red with embarassment. "NO KISSING!"

While Yuko laughed it off and Riku's continued smacking her suitor, unknown to them, Jiro was at the door looking through the peephole and SEETHING.

"She's MINE!" Jiro was seriously pouting as he watched the two interact through the peephole. "No kissing her!"

"Jiro."

"Yes-" Jiro turned around to get a face full of water from the spray bottle.

"No being creepy." Papa Wakamatsu scolded.

"But," Jiro scrubbed at his face with his shirt sleeve. "Yuko's kissing Asahi!"

Papa sprayed Jiro again.

"SH!" Papa looked around nervously. "It's Riku, remember?" Then Asahi's father thought about what Jiro had just said and flew to the door, flinging it open anxiously. His baby was kissing people? Isn't she too young for relationships like that?

"Papa?" Riku blinked at her father. Yuko and his... son... were a respectable distance away from each other.

"Ah. Well... ah. Come in!" Papa Wakamatsu motioned. "Why are you both outside? Honestly, kids these days...!"

"Thank you, sir." Yuko switched back to ultra-polite mode as Papa Wakamatsu turned to go back inside, shaking his head and spraying Jiro one more time for worrying him. The two had just been talking! There had been no hanky-panky going on!

"Here, let me help you with those." Riku grabbed a couple of packages that Yuko was still hauling around. It was hard to get out of caring-boyfriend mode for Riku since he had always been the caring type. "Why are these bags so heavy! What do you have in them?"

"Gifts for the family!" Yuko beamed. "It's the first time I've met them so I have to give a good impression. I want them to like the girl you're going to marry."

"I'm not marrying you." Riku growled. Reaching Jiro at the door, the dyed-blonde man stumbled over himself to help Riku with the bags but immediately almost fell over from the weight of them.

"Careful!" protested Yuko. "Some of that stuff is fragile!"

"What do you have in there?" Riku took pity on her childhood friend and took the heavier package back, giving Jiro the lighter bags.

"Gifts!" Yuko winked.

"Don't wink." Riku said seriously. "When you do that, I get scared."

"Boooo..." Yuko looked crestfallen. Scary? Wasn't she charming and funny?

Seemingly able to read her mind, Riku looked at Yuko who obviously was very attached to the idea of being Riku's girlfriend. "No. You're not charming. And this is not funny. If it weren't for the fact that there's so many people here, I would get you somewhere alone and kill you. No one would find your body."

"Oh, I getcha!" Yuko winked again. "What you mean is, 'get me alone and have your way with me in your little love nest where no-one will find us!' You sly dog, you!"

Riku looked up at the ceiling as if asking some higher power up there for patience which he was quickly, very VERY quickly running out of. Jiro was watching the two interacting, looking between them furtively and was absolutely livid.

"Riku's mine!" Jiro suddenly announced. Some girl was hitting on Asahi? Hell no! He wasn't going to allow it! Man or woman, he wasn't going to be beat out by either! "I saw him first!"

"Well, I'm formally asking his parents for his hand." Yuko shot back, not at all perturbed by this rival. She got this down like WOAH. Asahi was hers! Who was this person? Sure, he might have more of a chance because Asahi was straight, but Yuko wasn't going to be beat out by a gay guy! Slipping out of her nice heels, Yuko almost tripped but Riku was there to save her.

"My hero!" Yuko batted her eyelashes at Riku.

"Bleah." Riku made a little barfing sound. "Don't make me barf."

"You're so mean!" Yuko pouted but giggled, following Riku into the living room where Miho was currently playing Biohazard 5. Kouhei was trying to get the controls back from her and she was trying to kick him away. Already, the youngest Kawachi was pretty relaxed with the Wakamatsu's and had settled in quietly to ride out her sugar rush with the horror video game. But upon seeing Yuko-

"OHMYGOD!" Miho jumped up, hands pressed against her cheeks and squeed like a fangirl. "It's Oshima Yuko from Three Sisters and other such quality shows as Reinoryokusha Odagiri Kyoko no Uso and Angel Bank and-"

Erena nudged her sister to get her to shut up, but was also in awe of the stars assembled in this room. Riku, Kuu, Ray AND Oshima Yuko! And of course, Kai, but she was mad at him right now since he was still hiding in the kitchen and talking to his precious Maeda Atsuko.

"What are you doing here?" Ray the Diva asked rudely. She didn't mean to sound so hostile, especially in front of Kai's sisters, but Yuko was associated with Three Sisters which immediately made her think of Atsuko. Whom Kai was STILL in the kitchen giggling on the phone with!

"I'm here to meet the parents!" Yuko brandished her bags and placed them down carefully, kneeling down on the floor so she could go through them. "Wakamatsu-san-"

"You can just call me papa." Papa Wakamatsu harrumphed, pleased that his son-er, daughter.. whatever-had such a famous girlfriend! Not that Papa listened to much celebrity gossip but he had heard that Yuko was a very hard-working and ambitious individual. She was cute and well-mannered from what he could tell and seemed serious about his daughter! Er. Son. Whatever.

"Papa." Yuko said hesitantly. It was strange for her to be calling someone else besides her own father, father. But she supposed it was good. Smiling, Yuko dug into one of her bags and brought out a wooden box.

"Is that-" Papa opened the box and looked down at the simple bottle nestled amidst packing straw. "How did you know to get this? This is my favourite sake!"

"I have Riku to thank for that." Yuko replied politely. "He spoke of you a lot, sir."

"Did he now?" Papa Wakamatsu looked like he was about to cry as he stared fondly at his oldest child, teary-eyed.

"Honestly, dear." Mama sighed. Papa was so emotional sometimes and opening gifts up right in front of guests! Really! She thought she had trained her husband to be better than that!

"I didn't forget Riku's mother." Yuko reached into another bag and brought out a box from Hermes. Yuko opened the box for Mrs. Wakamatsu, holding it out to Mama hesitantly. For older mother-types, Yuko had a bit of problem. She had always bought things for her father but it was only recently that she'd been able to get in touch with her mother again and had no experience in buying moms gifts.

"Because, um, Riku said you were sensitive to the cold." Yuko chewed on her lower lip nervously. "It's a scarf. It's made of cashmere. Well. Um. If you don't like it, you don't have to wear it."

"Oh, honey." Mama was touched by the gesture and the heartbreakingly unsure look on Yuko's face. Riku also knew about Yuko's issues with mother figures and was behind the actress in an instant, a reassuring hand on Yuko's shoulder. Even though he personally felt that this whole heart-warming scene was making him sick to his stomach. Really, what the hell was going on? They were not in a bad drama! What was with all these misty eyes? "Thank you. This was a very thoughtful and beautiful present and I'll be sure to wear it when it gets cold and show you!"

"I'm happy you like the gift, Wakamatsu-san." Yuko smiled, relieved that Asahi's mother liked her present.

"What the hell is with this scene?" Kai was peeking in from another room as everyone ooed and aahed over Yuko's gifts. Yuko had even brought Asahi's younger brother something!

"What's happening now?" Atsuko giggled, her voice coming through loud and clear on Kai's phone.

"Yuko bought Kouhei some new PS3 games and Riku's being all protective-boyfriend-type." Kai whispered, having lots of fun. She made a face though, when she saw Miho hovering around the gifts and being a pest. "My sister's being annoying."

"Erena?"

"Miho." Kai corrected. "Erena's an angel."

Kai turned to go back into the kitchen, missing the looks both Erena and Ray were throwing at his back. If he had caught Erena giving him the stink-eye, Kai might've re-thought his opinion of his younger sister.

"Stupid Kai..." Erena muttered.

"Stupid Maeda." Ray muttered.

"What?" Miho loud cry of disbelief interrupted their mutterings, her shocked gaze directed at Yuko. "You've never played Biohazard?"

"Well," Yuko grinned at the younger girl's energy. "I'm always really busy, so I don't have the time to play games-"

"BIOHAZARD IS NOT A GAME! It prepares you!" Miho stood up, agitated. The sugar was getting to her. "How could you! Oshima Yuko, it's like I don't even know you anymore!"

'You don't really know me, kid.' Yuko thought irritably. The outburst had brought Kai into the room though.

"Call you later, k? Miho's spazzing." Kai listened for Atsuko's quick 'bye' then hung up.

"Miho," Kai frowned at his youngest sister. "If you're gonna cause a scene, I'm not bringing you out anymore."

"Oh, children will be children." Mama held out her arms to Miho. Seeing an ally, Miho immediately trotted over to sit by Mrs. Wakamatsu while the Wakamatsu matriarch tried to sooth the child down by rubbing her back.

"Biohazard prepares you! In case some evil corporation releases a virus that turns people into zombies, we know what to do!" Miho said fervently. "It's suicide not to play this game!"

Kai blushed, remembering how Nami had played the first few Biohazards with an impressionable Miho and how Nami-a much younger and stupider, Nami-had told her sister that Biohazard needed to be played by EVERYONE to prepare for a zombie apocalypse. Miho had taken it seriously and for a while, Nami, Miho, Erena and even Shouta had grouped together to make a zombie survival plan. You know, just in case a zombie apocalypse happened.

_"So since I'm getting my permit, I'll be the driver!" Shouta puffed up self-importantly. "I can drive us all somewhere safe!"_

_ "Stupid!" Nami scoffed. "I can drive even though I don't have a permit yet! It's easy! I beat you in Initial D all the time!"_

_ "Video games aren't like real life!" Shouta huffed, crossing his arms. He was just a little peeved that his younger sister had managed to beat him in the arcades AGAIN. What the hell was that? How does she always manage to beat him all the time?_

_ "Well, I'll have the first aid covered..." Erena had a little tin box from somewhere and filled it with bandages, antibiotic cream for cuts and scratches, bottles of pills she had swept in there from the medicinal cupboard (which their mother would later scold them for taking) and other little knick-knacks Erena thought would go into a first aid kit._

_ "Very good." Nami nodded, pleased. She placed a hand on Erena's head, gravely. "I would trust my life in your hands, Erena."_

_ "We don't need first aid!" Miho chirped up, weilding a bat. "I'ma get those zombies good!"_

'What the hell, Miho. Don't tell people this.' Kai thought to himself, feeling embarassed. Worse yet... he still had that plan hidden away in his desk back home. A person needed to be prepared, ya know! But... it was better if his friends didn't know about it since it WAS a little bit embarassing.

"Zombies aren't real." Yuko glowered at Miho.

"But..." Erena, silent throughout this, piped up hesitantly. "Well, you should be prepared, right? Just in case. Even if there are no zombies... but-but what if our government fails us? And our social infrastructures crumble to the ground!"

'Where the hell had she learned hard words like that?' Kai mentally face-palmed. 'Social infrastructure?'

"Well, it's very nice to be prepared." Ray was, surprisingly-or unsurprisingly-the first one to come to the defense of Kai's sisters. Both Miho and Erena smiled at Ray gratefully, for the back-up.

"Only stupid people don't play Biohazard!" Miho surmised and looked at Yuko with a triumphant smile. A normal adult would've just brushed off Miho's challenging look, scoffed at the child and ignored her. Yuko was not one of those people and she narrowed her eyes at Miho. THIS WAS WAR! How dare this kid make her look bad in front of Riku's parents!

"Kai, you have some cute sisters." Riku, unaware of Yuko's feelings, tried to not make Kai's younger sisters feel awkward. It was cute that these two kids had an active imagination! And really, Miho reminded Riku a lot of Kai. The little girl was brash and loud, wide-eyed and unrestrained. Erena seemed the polar opposite of her sisters but was equally adorable; her devotion to Kai apparent as she seemed to always follow Kai's form whenever he was in the room and seemed to look at her 'brother' for reassurance whenever she was feeling uncertain.

"Why can't you be as cute as Kai's sisters?" Riku reached over and punched Kouhei in the arm.

"I-tai, yo!" Kouhei made a face at his sister. "I'm already super cool, what more do you want?"

"I'm cool too!" Miho piped up.

As conversation exploded again, Jiro sidled up to Riku, glaring at Yuko. He wouldn't be outdone! Tugging on Riku's sleeve, he motioned for Riku to follow him to the kitchen. Riku managed to slip away as Miho distracted the dimpled actress by challenging her to a game of racing, to see who was better. Yuko had accepted, not wanting to lose to a grade-schooler.

Riku was grateful for the break from Yuko. Honestly, the young-man-who-was-really-a-woman was wondering if everybody was playing a joke on him today. Riku had come back to relax! And why was her family encouraging her fake-relationship with Yuko? Sure, it was fun that everyone was here... but Riku didn't want to be in his wig!

"What is it, Jiro?"

"Once I get a pulitzer," Jiro started to say, but Riku had already immediately tuned him out. Honestly, how many times was Jiro going to say this? He had a really serious look on his face and was probably saying something heart-warming and epic but... after the millionth time, the words Jiro said lost their impact.

"-serious. Our children-" Riku tuned in at the wrong part and smacked Jiro's arm, blushing.

"Stop thinking about our future children! There are none!" Even though the idol said this, Jiro continued blathering on seriously.

"-won't lose to Oshima-"

"There's nothing to lose to!" Riku growled in frustration and Jiro finally shut up, taking Riku's hand in his own.

"Really?" Jiro was teary-eyed with relief. "Really, really?"

This WAS Asahi's childhood friend. Seeing him all choked up like this, well, Asahi didn't like it. Jiro was annoying, but he was a sweet guy. When they went to school together, he would go hungry to give Asahi his lunch since Asahi liked Jiro's mom's cooking. He stood up for her when she needed someone to. He blew his money on candy for her whenever she felt like sugar. He was very good to her.

"Really." Riku sighed. "Don't be stupid."

"I thought, you know, with her here..." Jiro was so relieved he could faint! "And I didn't have gifts the first time we met because I was like, six years old-"

"You're not asking for my hand in marriage." Riku rolled his eyes. "So you don't need to bring gifts."

"But I will soon as I get my pulitzer-"

Riku immediately tuned him out again. Everytime he mentioned pulitzer or marriage, these words just immediately caused Riku to lose interest. That was why he wasn't paying any attention when arms snaked around him from behind, grabbing his chest.

"Nyan-nyaaaaan..." Yuko whined, groping.

"BIYAAAAH!" Riku screamed incoherently and jumped away from the touchy-feely actress. "Stop that!"

"I'm sad Nyan-nyan! That little brat beat me in Gran Turismo." Yuko pouted. "I want skinship!"

"No!" Riku blushed as Jiro gaped at the two. "Stop looking at me like that, Jiro!"

"How am I supposed to look?" Jiro protested. "And I'm not looking like anything!"

"You're looking like a pervert!" hissed Riku.

"I'm not!" Jiro smacked his hands over his face to hide his expression. "You can't see anything!"

Yuko had latched on to Riku and had her eyes closed, faced turned up and lips puckered in anticipation of a kiss.

"Chu-chu, Nyan-nyan~!"

"Hell no!" Riku struggled desperately to get away.

"Get away from him!" Jiro tried to step up, hearing the desperation in Riku's voice.

"Don't try and compete with me, Mr. Gay Paparazzo!" Yuko declared loudly. "I'll win for sure!"

"I'm not gay!" Jiro shot back, mortified.

"Oh yeah? Then why are you getting in the way of mine and Riku's relationship?" Yuko shot back. "I won't lose to you, Mr. Gay!"

"My name is Jiro. JI. RO." Jiro tried to clear up the minsunderstanding desperately. He wasn't gay! "Not Mr. Gay!"

"Then if you're not gay, you'd leave us alone." Yuko announced triumphantly, knowing she had Jiro in a corner. "We have a love-love relationship-"

"It's like no-one is listening to me!" Riku said loudly. "There is NO love-love relationships for Riku! EVER!"

"-and we've slept together already!" Yuko finished, ignoring Riku. Jiro's jaw dropped to his chest. "So THERE!"

"How could you?" The blonde-haired man stuttered tearfully aty Riku before running off and out of the Wakamatsu house.

"Jiro-"

"WIN FOR OSHIMA!" Yuko let go of Riku to strike a pose. "Once again, Oshima defeats all challengers! Can you smell what Oshima is cook-"

"I will kill you if you complete that ridiculous sentence." Riku growled. For god's sake! Asahi had wanted a quiet night in!

"Nyan-nyan, that's horrible, threatening your girlfriend." Yuko pouted, latching back on to Riku and burying her face in Riku's bound chest. "We haven't seen each other in so long-"

"I swear I saw you yesterday-"

"-and I miss you! Don't you miss me at all?"

"Not at all." Riku replied bluntly. But... he did miss her a little and couldn't stop his pulse from racing as Yuko tilted her head up to nuzzle and kiss at Riku's neck. "Iya-ya-ya-ya-ya! STOP THAT!"

"Nyan-nyannnn," Yuko's voice was slightly muffled as Riku pushed Yuko's face away from his own, desperately. Obon was supposed to be his time to relax! What the hellllllll!

Meanwhile, Kuu had taken over playing racing with Miho and was proving to be a much better racer overall. Miho was bouncing in place on the piece of floor she was sitting on, excited that she had such a skilled challenger.

"Mama, mama, did you see me drift?" Miho would intermittently shout for Riku's mom to look at her skilled driving. Mama Wakamatsu would nod and happily reply 'yes' then sigh, reminiscing about the past when Asahi and Kouhei would look to her for approval like Miho was doing now. Papa cheered Miho on enthusiastically, loudly shouting out pointers on what would be coming up on the track and alerting her if Kuu was getting too close.

"Kai! Look, look! Look at me!" Miho shouted excitedly as she leaned to the side, as if she was actually in the cockpit of the car she was driving. Kuu was not that far behind Miho and noisily bantered with the young Kawachi while Kouhei cheered Kuu on.

"You think because you're ahead now you'll beat me?" Kuu smirked. "I'm just biding my time!"

"Just like Kuu to do that! Man, you're so cool!" Kouhei smacked Kuu on the back in a manly fashion and they both laughed out loud in an obnoxious way.

"Those two..." Kai shook his head, sighing at the sight of Miho and Kuu smack-talking each other. Then he shrugged his shoulders, bouncing Erena whose head was currently resting on Kai's shoulder, her arms clamped on to his arm posessively. Ray was on the other side of Kai, mirroring what Erena was doing, her cheeks puffed out angrily. "And you two. What the hell."

"Don't you 'what the hell' me!" Ray looked up at Kai angrily. "Who were you on the phone with, huh? For such a long time too!"

"Yeah!" Erena and Ray had come to an understanding and the second Kawachi sister decided to contribute to the scolding Ray was giving Kai. "What the hell is that? After you invite us here too!"

"Didn't you say you were going to spend time with me?" Ray asked. "So your idea of spending time is spending ALL your time in the kitchen talking to Maeda?"

"Yeah! And us, your family." Erena added. "What about us, huh?"

"Come on, it was a short phone call." Kai sighed. "Give me a break."

"With someone you kicked your sister for!" Erena pointed out. The kick out of the kitchen hadn't hurt Erena at all, but it had hurt Erena's feelings. "That's cold! So cold!"

"Okay, okay." Kai sighed in resignation and hugged Erena close, to the younger girl's delight. "I'm sorry I kicked you out."

"And me?" Ray raised an eyebrow.

"What about you?" Kai tried to joke. Seeing Ray's face darken omniously, he let out a nervous laugh. "Uh... I'm sorry I was on the phone for so long?"

Ray had wanted a 'I'll stop talking to Maeda forever' but this was sort of acceptable too.

"Fine." Ray huffed, still a little bit disgruntled. The blonde Persona member grinned at the Diva, all pouty-lipped and grumpy. He would never admit it aloud, but she was kinda cute like this.

"Come on," Kai nudged her. "What can I do to make you not be angry at me?"

Deciding to try her luck, Ray leaned up, cupping a hand around Kai's ear so only he would hear her request. "Kiss?"

"No." Kai replied immediately, his face turning red as a tomato. Atsuko had distracted him, but now he remembered how Ray had cornered him in the kitchen, how she had kissed him so hard he had been dizzy and light-headed, like he didn't have enough oxygen... or like he had too much oxygen. Ray both killed and brought him to life. She could equally take his breath away and bring him into existence, all with a single press of her lips against his, the press of her along his body...

He had to get away.

"I'll go get you two a drink, I think Riku's in the kitchen." Kai blurted out. The short young man got free from the two holding on to him and escaped to the kitchen, stumbling immediately upon Riku trying to push Yuko away. The actress had a hold of Riku's head and was trying to force her lips on to the taller young man.

"HELP... ME..." Riku spotted Kai. The blonde scowled at the perverted actress and immediately slipped into the space between the two, physically seperating Yuko from Riku.

"Boo! No fun!" Yuko tried to duck around Kai but the smaller man was smart and blocked her every move. With a huff, Yuko retreated back to the living room, promising to return when Riku was less well-guarded.

"THANK YOU." Riku shook Kai's hand gratefully.

"Don't mention it." Kai replied gruffly. "Lets just hang out here for a bit. Holy crap. Women are scary."

"Yo!" Kuu's sudden appearance caused Riku and Kai to scream a little bit in surprise. "What?"

"Thought you were one of the crazies." Kai patted his chest to get his heart going again. He needed some time away from Ray. More than time, he needed distance. As much distance as possible.

"They're all outside watching Myao play-"

"Myao?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Miho." Kuu clarified. "Sorry. I dunno where that came from."

"It's fine." Kai waved away Kuu's apology. Riku took this opportunity to take Kuu's sunglasses off for him and smiled. Kuu's eyes weren't as red anymore and the puffiness had gone down a bit.

"You okay?" Kai asked worriedly, reaching out to squeeze Kuu's arm briefly.

"I'm fine now." Kuu smiled. "Thanks to you guys."

"We're here for you, okay? Whenever you need, you call us." Riku said earnestly.

"Yeah, even though some times I flop out," Kai said self-deprecatingly, "I'll pull through for you at the end, Kuu."

"Thanks, guys." Kuu almost felt like crying again but held his tears back bravely. Really, Kai didn't know how much he had helped Kuu. Eavesdropping on Erena and Kai arguing from before, Kuu could relate their situation to his. It put Hinata's situation with Lisa into perspective. It was time Kuu went back home and talked to Lisa.

"I think I have to go now. You guys have been great." Kuu smiled. "I have to go back and talk to someone."

"Well, you sure you'll be alright?" Kai asked gruffly. "Do you need me to come along? I'll beat up whoever made you cry!"

"No, I'll be fine." Kuu hugged Kai, feeling him stiffen in his arms.

"Get offa me." Kai was blushing. He was so cute!

"Alright, call us when you get back home." Riku patted Kuu's head. "Go on."

Kuu nodded, slipping out of the kitchen to the living room to say good-bye to everyone. Kouhei's loud protests made Riku chuckle a bit. His brother was such a Kuu-fanboy. Riku and Kai walked their friend to the door and watched him leave, waving good-bye as he called someone on his phone.

None of the three saw someone quickly duck around the corner of the house at their appearance, so as not to be seen.

"Okay, so what do we do about our," Riku shuddered. "girlfriends?"

"I dunno." Kai shrugged. "I didn't think that far ahead."

"STUPID! STUPIDDDDD!" Miho's laughter could be heard from inside.

"Oh my god..." Kai and Riku headed back to the living room, seeing Miho beating Yuko at racing again.

"I'm not stupid, you're stupid!" Yuko snapped back, unable to keep quiet. Everybody laughed as Miho and Yuko kept arguing with each other. Everybody except Riku and Kai who pulled the two combatants away.

"Miho, apologize."

Miho's gleeful face immediately changed to sullen. "Sorry."

"Sorry, who?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, Yuko." Miho grumped. That was the most Kai was going to get out of Miho and he let her go, warning her that if she was rude again, they would go home straight away. Riku was, funny enough, doing the same thing to Yuko.

"She's a little kid, Yuko. Really. You're supposed to be the adult here and you're arguing with a little girl." Riku scolded the actress. Yuko looked suitably ashamed. Riku's scoldings were interrupted, however, by the loudest, most ungodly sounds coming from Yuko's stomach.

"Um," Yuko was red with mortification. "I'm sorry."

"Bwaha-" Miho covered her mouth when Kai glared at her.

"Did you eat yet?" Riku tsked.

"No." Yuko replied quietly, casting her eyes around for her purse. She had just ruined everything! The image she had tried to cultivate in front of Riku's parents was ruined... they must think she would make a horrible daughter-in-law... "I'll just go now and get something to eat-"

"What are you saying?" Mama got up, scowling. "I have a perfectly good kitchen! And Ray?"

Surprised that she was being called upon, Ray answered hesitantly.

"Have you had anything to eat?" Mama tsked when Ray shook her head. "Honestly! The two of you need new boyfriends! They barely take care of you!"

"What?" Kai and Riku protested.

"You girls stay put. I'll fix up something." Mama scowled at the 'boys'. "Honestly, you two."

"I can help out-" Ray started to say but was quickly interrupted by Kai and Riku.

"Nonononono! We should definitely cook!" Riku hurried to the kitchen, pale with fear.

"We'll redeem ourselves by cooking you two a meal." Kai was almost pleading. "Just sit down and relax. We'll help Mrs. Wakamatsu."

"I'm hungry, too." Miho chirped up.

"Are you for serious?" Kai narrowed his eyes at his younger sister.

"Gotcha." Miho grinned at her older brother. Kai mussed up Miho's hair good-naturedly then went to the kitchen where Riku had already disappeared into.

"Can I help?" Erena followed her older brother quickly.

"No, you kids continue playing. We'll be in the kitchen." Ray made to get up and Kai held up a finger, stopping the star in her tracks. "Ray, stay here. I'll take care of everything."

"But-"

"No buts. I'm cooking for you." Kai's voice allowed for no arguments.

"Kick back and relax!" Riku hollered from the kitchen. Ray and Yuko, hesitantly, sat back down.

"Riku's a good cook." Mr. Wakamatsu hummed pleasantly. "So you'll be in for a surprise, Yuko."

"I'm just happy that he's cooking for me." Yuko's grin was infectious and even Ray found herself smiling joyfully. Their boyfriends, cooking for them! This was fantastic!

* * *

Lisa was sitting in front of Otawa residence, looking tired and worried. She had been calling and calling the young Otawa until Hinata had turned off her phone. The New Zealander had gone out to look for Hinata, despite the lolita's parents telling Lisa that Hinata would be back soon enough. Lisa had searched nearby haunts, parks and playgrounds, even called up the stores the girl liked to frequent to look for her. Nothing. So she had let the Otawas reassure her and tell her to wait.

Hinata had called her right after the small woman had calmed down, surprisingly enough, and was open to talking. So now here was Lisa, sitting there anxiously waiting for the girl. As soon as Lisa saw Hinata coming towards the house from a distance, she was up and running to the girl.

"Hina!"

Hinata allowed Lisa to hug her and coddle her, going in between scolding her and apologizing to her for springing her departure on the girl so suddenly. Hinata couldn't help a few tears from escaping the corners of her eyes as she held on to Lisa.

"I'm sorry I ran away." Hinata apologized.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." There was not much more Lisa could say. She had to take this job and she felt unbelievably guilty for having chosen this thing that would take her away from Hinata. Lisa needed this job; it had become increasingly harder to find English-teaching jobs here in Japan. Lisa was not unhappy here in Japan, but she missed home. It wasn't that she had picked her job over Hinata, oh no. Lisa had thought she could balance the two, that Hinata wouldn't need her as much. She hadn't thought the girl would take it so hard.

"I'm sorry, sweetie." Lisa apologized again and Hinata pushed away from her auntie to smile at her bravely.

"I'm fine, auntie. I was being stupid before." Hinata continued trying to smile bravely. She was dressed for battle in her red frilly dress. Plus, her princes had rescued her... though she would never call them that to their face because she was sure at least the blonde prince would beat her up... "I'll be fine."

"Hina..." Lisa stroked Hinata's head sadly. "I have to do this. But you know I'll always be there for you, right?"

"Really?" Hinata asked, hating that her voice quavered a little bit. She wanted to hear Lisa's reassurances, even though they might not be true. People always lie to each other, to save each other from the hurt. They never saw past the fronts that were put up, didn't see through the lies. Lisa didn't really know Hinata, so Hinata could just... forget about her. It shouldn't hurt this much. Why did she hurt this much?

"Really, really." Lisa smiled and hugged the lolita tightly, seeming to sense the bitterness brewing beneath the surface. "I'm not lying, Hina. And I know you. I know you're not happy with me going away-"

"Then why are you going?" Hinata asked, cutting Lisa off. It wasn't that Hinata was less sad, it was just that... she was more in control. "Are you unhappy here? Is it me?"

"It's not about you, Hina." Lisa sighed. "I didn't leave because of you, you have to understand that. I'm leaving because I have to go for what I want-"

"And leave me behind." Hinata said stubbornly. She understood. Wasn't Hinata and Nami and Asahi chasing their dreams? Wasn't Nami leaving her sisters behind to chase her dreams? The young girls understood... Hinata understood too. But she was so angry and frustrated. And scared. Things were changing. "You'll leave and then you'll forget about me. You don't care-"

"You know I care about you, Hina. I've watched you grow up. I know everything about you-"

"You don't know anything!" Hinata retorted angrily. She had come back to maturely accept that Lisa was going to leave and happily send the New Zealander on her way. She hadn't wanted to be so angry and so bitter. Riku and Kai had calmed her down before, maybe she should've accepted Kai's offer to come along-

"I know that your friends Kai and Riku will take care of you." Lisa pointed out, smiling slightly.

"So you just push me on to some other people... to... take care of... me... what did you say?" Hinata blinked, stunned.

"Your friends?" Lisa replied innocently, trying to back-pedal. Damnit! Hinata had said the names of the people Lisa suspected were Kai and Riku! What were their names...

"You said Kai and Riku." Hinata pointed out. "My parents told you?"

"Your parents know you're Kuu?" Lisa gaped at Hinata. "They were telling me you were just a gopher at Sunny Music-your parents lied to me!"

"So they didn't tell you?" Hinata was stunned, Lisa's infuriated look told the loli that Lisa had just found out about Hinata's parents being in on the secret. She did not look happy. "How did you know Hinata was Kuu?"

"I saw you on TV during the Indies." Lisa stroked Hinata's head, trying not to be too angry. It was in everyone's best interest that Hinata's parents communicated with Lisa about any changes in Hinata's life so no surprises came up and the New Zealander could watch her young charge a little bit better. "Paul said he had been working with some up-and-comers he felt were really interesting, so I was watching the Indies. When I saw you, I was so worried. I tried calling the police station but they told me you had slipped the guards, so I, uh, told them I was just a concerned party and hung up."

Hinata giggled, imagining Lisa sputtering and lying to the policemen on the phone. Lisa smiled at Hinata wryly and knocked her head against Hinata's.

"I'm glad you find this funny. When I tried to call you, your phone was off and remember when I finally reached you and you pretended nothing was wrong?"

"You knew and you didn't ask?" Hinata was grateful that Lisa played dumb and didn't ask because at the time, Hinata couldn't have and didn't want to explain herself.

"Thank god your parents were out of the country and wasn't watching tv or else they would've locked you up-"

"You didn't tell them?"

"Honey," Lisa rolled her eyes. "They're your parents. OF COURSE I told them! But of course, I left out certain parts and... the story's settings and events might have changed a bit. I just told them you were very, very unhappy and we needed to do something about that. I didn't tell them that you tried to commit suicide on TV like some disgraced samurai."

Hinata had the decency to blush.

"I was so worried about you, you know that? But I pretended everything was alright because you just seemed happier all of a sudden and you're very good at side-stepping the questions I had for you. I was so worried... especially since you didn't come home after that. But your parents told me you were alright and had met with your boss and your mails to me sounded so much happier." Lisa smiled and Hinata suddenly felt guilty. Since Hinata joined Persona, she hadn't called Lisa at all, Lisa had done all of the calling. Hinata would send mails to her auntie, but those mails had dropped drastically from the daily ones the loli had used to send.

No wonder Lisa thought Hinata would be okay with her auntie leaving.

"I recognized you, even with the wig and the make up on." Lisa giggled. "And you still look adorable."

"I'm supposed to be handsome." Hinata pouted.

"You are, but you're also so very cute." Lisa grinned and picked at imaginary lint on Hinata's dress, a comfortable silence falling on both of them.

"Will you..." Hinata finally started to say, then paused, unsure. Lisa's kind eyes gave her the strength, though. "Will you call me when you're in New Zealand? You won't forget me, right?"

"Are you okay with me going?" Lisa raised an eyebrow. Hinata always liked it when the older woman did that. It made her look distinguished and dignified.

"No..." Hinata said truthfully. But she knew she was being selfish... and the way Lisa looked at her and cared about her... she knew the way her auntie looked at her was how Kai looked at Erena. Her Aunt Lisa loved her and would never leave her.

"But I'll be fine. I know you have to do this." Hinata nodded in resignation. She wanted to be happy for her auntie. And she was. It was just, the thought of Lisa leaving tore at her.

"Thank you." Tears of relief shone in Lisa's eyes, but the caucasian woman wouldn't let them fall; Lisa always kept a stiff upper lip. Hinata felt a little bit nervous, however, when Lisa's eyes suddenly narrowed as if she remembered something bad Hinata had done.

"You know we're still going to have to deal with what happened at the Indies, right?" Lisa scolded Hinata. "Seriously, I almost had a heart attack when I saw you with that box cutter!"

"Don't tell my parents." Hinata pleaded. They WOULD forbid her to stay in Persona if they found out what happened!

"I've contacted a friend." Lisa flicked Hinata's nose with a finger. "She's a doctor and she wants to talk to you, okay? I've told your parents that your unhappiness is serious enough that I want you to go see this doctor once a week to talk."

"I don't wanna." Hinata whined. "Japanese people don't talk about their problems! We internalize it!"

"This is no joke, Hina." Lisa said seriously, shaking a finger at Hinata. "I want you to go to these sessions and just TALK. She's really good at what she does. I've told your parents about this and they said they'd talk to your boss and make sure you get time off once a week to go to this doctor. Now promise me you'll go."

Hinata could see the worry behind Lisa's stern exterior and finally nodded grumpily. She didn't want to go to no stinking doctor!

"Now," Lisa held out her hand to Hinata, like she used to do when the loli was just a child. Hinata took it, relishing the warmth of Lisa's hand. "I cooked some shrimp, just for you. I hid them from the other guests. Lets go eat!"

"SHRIMP!" Hinata cheered excitedly. "Beer-steamed shrimp? Shrimp with cocktail sauce? Fried shrimp? Cajun shrimp?"

"All of the above." Lisa replied and Hinata's replying cheer echoed in the quiet neighbourhood.

* * *

endnote: well, dundundun! the plot thickens! I've said this like... a gazillion times, haven't I? haha


	23. Chapter 23

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 23

author's note: Out of the family members, which ones do you like the best? The least? I like all of them. But then, I'm biased.

* * *

"Kuu's home safe." Riku announced, pausing in his cooking when his phone announced that he had mail. Kai nodded distractedly, focused on the task at hand.

"He alright?"

"He says he's fine and he'll see us tomorrow."

The two members of Persona were in the kitchen, aprons around their waist, cooking up a storm.

"Kai makes the best noodles!" Miho told Ray, puffing up with pride.

"It's just the soup base packet." Kai shook his head, a little bit proud that his younger sister liked his cooking, though. Mama had stepped back to supervise while Riku and Kai cooked at a fever pace. The mere thought of Ray even VOLUNTEERING to cook for them made them break out in a cold sweat. Riku and Kai had both taken over the kitchen, making what they made best. Riku was working on fried rice, mixing in left-overs and stir-frying it in a wok she had bought from the Chinatown in Yokohama when Asahi had gone through a Chinese-cooking phase. The secret to this dish was hoisin sauce and not too much oil.

Kai had rolled up his sleeves to prepare ramen nabe pot-Nami's specialty-grabbing lots of vegetables Mama Wakamatsu urged him to use and meat since she deemed Ray way too skinny.

"It smells so good." Erena was sitting beside Ray, eyes closed and nose in the air. Nami didn't win her sisters' love with just personality, oh no. She also won it by the sheer amounts of good eats she could cook up. Though Nami didn't get along with her mother, her mother HAD taught her a lot, especially in the kitchen. Being the first girl to be born after two boys, Ma Kawachi had made Nami her apprentice in the kitchen, teaching Nami everything a housewife should know in running a household since Nami was old enough to walk.

Of course, Nami had other plans for herself and didn't want to be just a housewife so they had clashed on that issue numerous times.

"Riku's food looks good, too." Miho had sneaked away to look at Riku's fried rice, longingly.

Yuko sat there at the dining room table, able to watch her man at work in the kitchen through the cut-out section into the kitchen. The tiny sliding doors in the cut-out section was open for anybody to look through. She let out a sigh, smiling happily. Yuko really, really wished that Riku was a guy. Then they could get married and live together.

'But it's fine now, too.' Yuko thought happily. Riku's shoulders weren't broad and muscular, like how she imagined her future husband's would be. He wasn't a beacon of masculinity, in fact, Riku was actually a girl. But the Persona member's seriousness, the earnest kindness that shone from his honest face won Yuko over like no other boyfriend had.

"I might just be a total Riku fangirl." Yuko sighed dreamily.

"If you're a Riku fangirl, I'm a Kai fangirl." Ray conversed dreamily, the situation temporarily shutting down the bitch in her. There was Kai, small tiny Kai carefully using a tasting dish to taste the soup. Cooking Ray food. It was the dream scenario-but with roles reversed... Ray always imagined herself in the kitchen-together in a warm house, just the two of them. Well, she really didn't mind the other people right now, but if it was just the two of them... then in the heat of the moment, Kai could sweep everything off the table and take Ray in a fit of passion-

"Whatever you're thinking of, stop." Kai was in front of Ray, frowning. The aprons were off both Riku and Kai and they stood in front of the daydreaming actress and songstress, shaking their heads at the two girls.

Kai put down a coaster and placed the small pot in front of Ray. "Here. Eat. It's not much but I hope you like it."

Ray took the chopsticks and spoon Kai handed to her, cheeks red from what she had been imagining. To hide how flustered she was, the Diva said a quick 'itadakimasu' and started eating. It was really hot... and really good! The explosion of flavour in her mouth made her moan in pleasure, the sound positively indecent.

"Don't make this weird!" Kai rebuked hotly.

"But it's sooooo good!" Ray groaned. Miho was at Ray's side, eyes shining.

"Me me me!" Miho opened her mouth. Ray used her spoon to scoop up some broth and noodles, blew on it softly and fed Miho. The youngest Kawachi squeezed her eyes together in joy. It had been a while since she had eaten Nami's cooking!

"Do you want some, too?" Ray noticed Erena giving her nabe ramen side-long glances. Erena shrugged, knowing better than to take food from someone she had just met. And it was Ray! ...but it was Nami's cooking.

"Here," Ray held up a spoonful of yummy ramen and held it out to Erena, smiling. It was rude to leave Ray hanging, so Erena quickly ate, muttering a thank you. It had been a while since she had any of Nami's cooking. Even though Nami had learned everything about the kitchen from Ma, Nami used less seasoning and she had evolved her own style of cooking that the girls sometimes loved more than their own mother's cooking.

Yuko was trying to politely wolf down her fried rice as fast as possible, ignoring everything around her. Asahi had actually cooked for her! It was the BEST. MEAL. EVER!

"Slow down, Yuko." Riku was sitting opposite Yuko, trying not to let it show on his face how happy he was that Yuko liked his food. With Ray and Miho loudly extolling how good Kai's cooking was-and Erena quietly showing with her expressions how much she enjoyed the tidbit Ray shared; Riku wasn't going to be beat out! "You're going to choke, seriously. And... are you... crying?"

"It's so good!" Yuko, indeed, had tears streaming down her face. Tears of abject joy. "It's the best!"

"Well, I don't know about the best." Riku rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly bashful. "Do you want some cold tea with that?"

"Yes, please!"

"Could I get some tea too, please?" Ray asked politely. Riku stared at Ray, stunned. The songstress actually ASKED instead of DEMANDED? Miracles do happen!

"I'll go with you." Kai followed Riku to the kitchen, helping him grab the pet bottle full of cold green tea while Riku reached up into the cupboards to get glasses.

"So I didn't know you could cook." Riku raised an eyebrow at Kai. The young blonde grinned at Riku wryly.

"I didn't know YOU could cook either. And we didn't have to do anything in the kitchen back at home, right? Marilyn would do everything for us." Having said that, the two suddenly realized that it was true, Marilyn DID do everything for them. They felt a little bit guilty about that. Then they remembered that Marilyn and Saeko would subject them to weird 'L' moments and the moment of guilt disappeared.

"Hey, you know what we should do when we get back home?" Riku's eyes were wide with delight.

"What do you have in mind?" Kai returned Riku's enthusiasm, neither of them realizing that they had used the word 'home' to describe the Komonohatsu agency house. As they schemed together, momentarily forgetting their drinks; outside, Miho was eyeing Yuko's fried rice, the tantalizing smell wafting from the plate of food making the young girl's mouth water.

"Do you want a bite?" Yuko scooped up a spoonful of fried rice and help it out to Miho, oh so close, oh so tempting.

"Yuh-huh." Miho nodded furiously and leaned forward to take a bite, but Yuko had pulled back, quick as a whip and ate the spoonful of rice.

"MUAHAHAHA!" Yuko laughed loudly as Miho gaped at her in shock. "STUPID! STUUUUPID!"

Miho was slowly turning red as she puffed up in anger, Yuko's prank and immature heckling was definitely getting to the young Kawachi. WHAT THE HELL!

"Oh yeah?" Before Yuko could respond to Miho's 'oh yeah', Miho had already taken Yuko's spoon and was now inhaling Riku's fried rice at a ridiculously fast rate.

"NO!" Yuko howled in outrage. "Give that back!"

Yuko had grabbed Miho and was trying to pull her away from the plate of fried rice but Miho was on that like a leech on a tasty swimmer.

"Girls!" Mama Wakamatsu sighed in exasperation.

Kouhei and Papa Wakamatsu were totally not helping. "EAT EAT EAT EAT-"

"Miho!" Erena stood up and scolded, finally managing to stop the youngest Kawachi. As the older sister, she still had authority over Miho. "What are you doing? You're being rude and N-Kai will get angry at you!"

Miho, replied sullenly with her mouth full. "She started it."

"What's up?" Riku and Kai was back in the room with drinks in hand, having heard the commotion. Kai's face darkened at the scene in front of him. Miho, with her mouth bulging and rice on her cheeks in a headlock by a tearful Yuko... Erena frozen in a scolding position... Mama Wakamatsu trying not to laugh while Kouhei and Papa had frozen, mid-cheer.

"Mi. Ho." Kai growled and Miho winced, knowing Kai was about to launch into a tirade that would probably leave her shame-faced and possibly in tears.

"Yuko was just sharing her rice and Miho was choking, so Yuko was... helping Miho." Ray quickly covered for the young girl. Yuko was about to protest but Ray glared at Yuko, back in full-Diva mode. "RIGHT, YUKO? I'm RIGHT, correct?"

Yuko quavered under the full strength of Ray's glare, the queen of the charts was formidable in her intimidation skills and when Ray turned her glare on full-power, most people caught in her gaze was staggered by it.

"Right. But I'm still hungry." Yuko let go of Miho and the girl immediately jumped into Mama Wakamatsu's arms, throwing Ray a grateful look as Kai backed down. The blonde wasn't fooled, of course, but he'd rather not make a scene if Ray was going to lie for his sister.

"Come on," Riku motioned for Yuko to follow him. Honestly, it was never dull with Kai around. "I made a lot of fried rice so there's more in the kitchen. Bring your plate and I'll get you more."

Kai gave Miho a look that said that they would talk later, before sitting down in front of Ray, smiling wryly when the star blushed. Again, Kai found himself asking himself the question, why the hell did Ray like him so much?

"Good?" Kai asked instead of the question on his mind.

Ray smiled softly at the blonde. "The best."

"Come on, Kouhei!" Miho quietly sidled up to the older boy. "Lets go play Biohazard!"

Though Kouhei would've loved to stick around to hang out with the stars, he could tell that they were all really busy with their girlfriends. Plus, his favourite, Kuu, was gone so he'd really rather play PS3 than watch the couples make googly eyes at each other.

"Alright. Show me how to pass that part..." The two escaped the kitchen with Mama pulling a relunctant Papa behind her. Now only Ray, Kai and Erena were in the dining room and it was making Kai nervous since Ray was just sort of... watching him with an unreadable expression on her face.

"So, Erena, how's school been?" Settling on a safe topic and with the willing participation of his younger sister, Kai avoided any kind of awkward scenes that might occur. Riku was, meanwhile, sighing in resignation as Yuko held him from behind, crying to him about how evil young girls were. They were hidden from view, the tiny sliding doors that blocked the cut-out part in the wall that allowed the people in the kitchen to look out into the dining room, was closed.

"-it was your love-meal, too! I can't believe she would eat something so special!" Yuko wailed quietly.

"I just can't believe you would fight with a GRADE-SCHOOLER over something like this." Riku had his hands full, a plate of fried rice in his hands.

"That's no grade-schooler!" Yuko hissed. "That's a demon in disguise! How do I know that? The Diva out there is the Queen of all things evil and she was TOTALLY helping out one of her minions just now!"

"You're just being-hey!" Riku tried to pull away but Yuko held on tightly nuzzling at the back of Riku's neck. "S-Stop that!"

"I need some skinshippppp..." Yuko grunted softly, latching on to that spot right behind Riku's ear, sucking deftly.

"Stop! S-Stopppp!" Riku couldn't pull away too fast, the dish in his hand was liable to come crashing to the ground! Finally, groping around desperate, he managed to put down the plate on the counter and spun on Yuko-who had started to let her hands wander down to a dangerous area-and smacked her upside the head.

"I-TTTTA!" Yuko held her head in pain. Man, love hurts! "What was that for?"

In response, Riku smacked Yuko again, this time on the shoulder. "This is for your sexual harassment, Yuko! Se-ku-ha-ra!"

"Skinship!" Yuko insisted, jumping Riku again and her eyes watering. "Pleaseeeee! Rikuuuuu..."

"Don't whine." Riku sighed in exasperation as Yuko burrowing into his arms. It was really too easy to reciprocate, wrapping his arms around her, pushing the plate of fried rice back and leaning against the counter. The sigh of contentment form the small actress made Riku sigh also, weary. At this rate, Asahi would never get a boyfriend but she would get a girlfriend all too soon.

"Being like this with you reminds me of our date night." Yuko whispered. RIku smiled slightly, remembering that night. It had been really fun. And the way they had lounged around together, with Yuko being uncharacteristically shy and vulnerable and Asahi taking the lead role... it had been really nice.

"Don't remind me." Riku blushed, remembering how good it had felt, snuggled up next to Yuko, waking up to warmth. It had been a while since she'd slept in the same bed with anyone, especially in such an intimate setting. Last time she remembered she had woken up in bed with someone holding her was when she was just a kid of maybe ten years old and had had a bad dream. Her mama had rocked her back to sleep.

"I'm really happy with you." Yuko burrowed her nose in Riku's clothes. Even in disguise, Yuko would recognize Asahi anywhere. In the way she held herself, the way she moved, the way she pouted in that adorable way... the way she smells-so sweet, with the lingering scent of a light cologne. "Can you hold me tighter?"

"You brat..." Riku scoffed but complied, settling his arms around Yuko and tightening his grip so their bodies were flush against each other. Riku buried his nose in Yuko's hair, imagining that they were together again in that hotel room, just sleeping. It had, really, been one of the highlights of Persona's Okinawa trip. Yuko pulled away slightly to look up into Riku's face, searching for something.

'She's going to kiss me.' Riku thought dimly, struck dumb by the look of longing on Yuko's face. 'She's going to kiss me...'

Something moving at the corner of his vision made Riku look up... to see Kouhei grinning there, with his camera in hand. The little red light on the camera signified that he was filming and the little beep that sounded as he stopped recording finally shook Riku out of his stupour.

"Gotcha." Kouhei grinned and spun around, running for it.

"KOUHEIIII! GIVE ME YOUR PHONE!" Riku roared and gave chase, red with embarassment. If that video ever got out-! "I am going to KILL YOU!"

"Kisses, Riku!" Yuko, completely ignoring the fact that they had been recorded in a compromising position, ran after Riku for what was important: kisses. Sweet, sweet Asahi kisses.

As the trio ran through the dining room-one laughing maniacally, another hollering after him promising death and the other demanding kisses-Kai closed his eyes, pretending not to see.

"What's going on?" Erena blinked in confusion. The house was almost SHAKING at the ruckus the three were kicking up!

"Do you hear anything?" Kai shrugged. "I don't hear anything."

"Well, Riku and Yuko just went running through here-" Ray said hesitantly.

"No no no. I heard and saw nothing." Kai smiled brightly at the songstress. "Eat your food, Ray. We. Didn't. See. Anything."

"O...kay." Ray exchanged looks with Erena and they both shrugged, taking Kai's lead. Ignore the insanity.

"So it must be really busy for you now, right?" Erena asked Ray, indulging in some fangirling.

"It has been." Ray nodded regretfully. "I'd like more free time now, to see Kai a bit more-"

"But even if you had free time I probably won't be free now." Kai cut in, trying to deter Ray from bullying Sarukawa-shachou into giving her more free time to harass him! "We're both very busy so if we don't see each that often it's understandable."

"Yeah..." Ray was playing footsies with Kai under the table, which Kai was trying to avoid but Ray seemed to think it was a game and kept seeking out his feet with hers. "So I have to get in as much time with Kai as I can. Maybe if we moved in together-"

"NO." Kai made a big 'X' with his arms. "None of that."

"Ooooo... wait til mom and dad hear about this-"

"They're not going to hear about this!" Kai snapped, cutting off Erena. The young girl looked hurt and Kai immediately regretted it. It was just... the mention of his parents stressed him out. "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry." Erena immediately apologized. She was mature in the way that she understood a lot more than a normal girl her age was able to. Erena knew Nami loved her family, but was not a family person. Nami abhorred what she had named 'hugging and sharing time with the Kawachis', and hated this time when it was required for everyone to get together and talk about how they were feeling. It was all good for the rest of Nami's siblings and Ma Kawachi, but Pa and Nami hated sharing and would just sit in stony silence, listening attentively but deferring from hugging it out.

Everyone left Pa alone, even Ma Kawachi. A raised eyebrow from Pa kept his wife from pestering him but Nami had no such respite. Her brothers would get in to it too since they were mama's boys; only her sisters knew better since they shared a room with her and had seen her rage after these 'caring and sharing' moments.

"I just..." Kai floundered, feeling awkward. He always seemed to say or do the wrong thing! And of all people, Erena was the one who deserved his anger the least.

"Well, I'm so glad you two have such a good relationship." Ray took control of the conversation quickly before it became awkward for the siblings. "I wish I had a little sister."

"You can take Miho." Kai grinned at Ray, grateful for her intervention. The blonde smiled at Erena and reached over to ruffle Erena's hair affectionately. "I'll keep the one that causes the least problems."

"I want both of them!" Ray exclaimed, hugging Erena mischeivously. The second Kawachi sister leaned in to the hug, almost dying of happiness. Ray! The super-charismatic Diva was HUGGING her!

"Hey, hey, hey," Kai protested. "What about me?"

"What about you?" Ray smirked as Kai blushed, again, having said the wrong thing while Erena grinned at Kai impishly.

"I mean, what'll I do if you take both of them?" Kai clarified, still blushing.

"Well," Ray reached forward and took Kai's hand in her own, the blonde having to fight the urge to yank his hand away. Ray's touch was like fire on her nerves. It was suddenly too warm in the dining room. "Who said I was leaving you behind?"

"Yuck." Erena made a face. She would NEVER get to the age where watching one of her siblings being lovey-dovey wouldn't make her squirm. "I'm outta here."

Kai wanted to grab Erena and make her stay there so he wouldn't be alone with Ray, but Erena was already out of the kitchen before he could stop her.

"Um." Kai twiddled his thumbs, a little bit nervous to be alone in the same room as the Diva.

"Your sisters are cute." Ray seemed to understand Kai perfectly and moved to a topic he was more comfortable with.

"They are." Kai smiled fondly at the thought of his sisters. "Miho's a handful, but she's so damn cute. Erena is an angel and just tries to be such a good girl all the time... sometimes I wish she'd act out, maybe lighten up a bit."

"But maybe that's who she is. She seems like a very good girl and wants other people to take her seriously." Ray pointed out. "Maybe you're projecting what you want for yourself on to her?"

"I just want the best for her." Kai scowled, not liking where this conversation was going.

"Doesn't your mother want what's best for you?" That seemed to give the blonde pause. He didn't like being compared to someone he really didn't want to be compared to. "Your sister seems to like being serious and leans on you for support a lot. Maybe you should ask her what she wants? I mean, it's good to encourage your sisters, but what if they want to do something else?"

"Well, what if she wants to be a bum? Should I just let her?" Kai shot back.

"I'm sure your sister doesn't want to be a bum. Now you're just being difficult." Ray leaned across the table and poked Kai's cheek, a teasing smile on her face. Kai snapped at the finger playfully and growled, making Ray giggle a bit before turning back to the conversation. "Just guide her but don't restrict her."

"Is that what your grandfather did for you?" Kai asked inquisitively. When the blonde asked theat question, Ray didn't feel that heartache she normally felt when thinking of Torao. It felt like... relief. She could finally talk to someone about her grandfather. Her hand naturally dropped to Kai's open palm, tracing the lines on his hand.

"Yes." Ray nodded. "He wanted the best for me and said so, tried to push me in a more traditional direction, of course. But then when he realized I was miserable doing anything other than music, he encouraged me to do my best and said he'd support me in whatever I was going to do. I'm sure he wasn't that happy about it but he just wanted me to be happy."

"Your grandfather sounds like a great man." Kai said after a beat of silence.

"He WAS a great man." There was no sadness at the thought of Torao, the wound didn't feel so raw now with Kai here. "I would've wanted you to meet him. He would've liked you."

"I would've wanted to meet him."

Ray reached over the table, one hand in Kai's and the other reaching out tentatively to touch Kai's face, his expression serious and honest. Ray could see Erena in that expression, her heart skipping a beat when Kai's eyes closed a tiny bit and he leaned into the touch, almost like an affectionate cat.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Riku's voice reverberated through the house and the spell was suddenly broken. Kai drew his hand away, skittish and shy again, getting up hurriedly.

"I'm, uh, gonna check on my sisters." He stumbled out of the kitchen, back into the safety of the living room, his heart hammering in his chest, feeling way too warm.

What the hell had just happened in the kitchen?

* * *

"Thank you for having us." Ray and Yuko both chorused. It was getting late and Hiro had called Ray, telling her he'd be picking her up soon. Yuko had called for a taxi and it would be at the Wakamatsu residence soon enough. The sun was just about setting and there were kids out running around in the neighbourhood, plus someone hanging around the corner, seemingly waiting for a friend as they talked on their cellphone.

"It was a pleasure meeting my son's girlfriend." Papa Wakamatsu said gravely to Yuko, who bowed deeply to hide the gleeful expression on her face.

"We're not dating! I'm still angry at her!" Riku protested, but nobody paid any attention to Riku.

"Yeah right you're not dating! Who you trying to fool-" Kouhei was still in a headlock and Riku was periodically slapping the top of Kouhei's head, trying to shut him up.

"Riku." Mama tsked. But she had heard what her youngest had done and was fully on Riku's side.

"It was also really nice meeting Kai and his girlfriend." Papa slapped Kai on the back in a manly fashion, grinning at the small guy. It was amazing to see someone like Kai wrap the Diva around his little finger. The songstress, meanwhile, was attached to Kai's arm, giggling happily even when Kai tried to shake her off.

"Ray, it was an honour to meet you-urk!" Riku choked off whatever Kouhei was going to say next.

"Did I say you could talk?" Riku growled. He had managed to delete the video off Kouhei's phone, then proceeded to beat his younger brother with it. Their rough-housing was difficult since Yuko had jumped into the mix, trying to seperate them by pushing the brothers away from each other... that hadn't gone over well with Riku since Yuko would try to cop a feel while she was doing that.

"Come back to visit us soon." Mama Wakamatsu gave Yuko a hug, taken with the small actress. She might make a lot of noise, but Yuko was serious about Riku and seemed like an extremely nice girl.

"I'll try my best." Just then, a taxi pulled up and the driver got out, asking if someone had called a taxi.

"That's me." Yuko answered, a little bit sad that this was all over. Her dad lived too far away for her to spend Obon with him so it had been awesome to spend it with someone she liked. Just as she was about to go, Riku called out to her.

"Wait just one second." Riku rushed back into the house, releasing Kouhei. In half a minute, he was back with a little plastic container full of the rest of his fried rice. "Here. You can eat this for lunch tomorrow. Don't say I never gave you anything."

"For lunch? Tomorrow?" Yuko was near tears.

"Yeah-woah!" Riku quickly held up the little container to lip level to stop Yuko from going in for a kiss, stopping her successfully.

"Bleah." Yuko had kissed the plastic box. "Boo, Riku! No good-bye kiss?"

"I'm going to punch you." Riku growled. "Your sexual harassment is not welcome."

"SKINSHIP!" Yuko stomped her feet cutely. "Honestly, Riku!"

Goodbyes were exchanged, even Ray managed a tight smile while Kai pushed Miho's head down in a bow. Yuko waved goodbye sadly, really unhappy to be gone. When the taxi had driven away though, Riku let out a sigh of relief.

"Good riddance-ow!" Riku let go of Kouhei, who had managed to bite his brother's forearm. "Cheating!"

"Whatever, all's fair in love and war!" Kouhei hid behind his mama. "And that's not a nice thing to say about your girlfriend! Ooooo!"

"I will kill you..." Riku moved forward threateningly and Kouhei eeped and pushed his mother forward.

"Riku." Mama Wakamatsu sighed in exasperation. "Both of you, stop it."

They all stopped talking as a black luxury car stopped in front of the house and a gigantic man stepped out of it.

"Ma'am." Hiro nodded at Ray respectfully, then grinned at Kai. "Yo, Kai."

"Hiro, my man!" Nami high-fived the mountain-of-a-man while the Wakamatsus gaped at the big guy. "Thanks for coming by."

"It's what I do." Hiro grinned.

"Don't leaveeeee." Miho had her arms around Ray's waist. "Come back with us!"

"Miho." Kai sighed. There would be problems if Ray showed up at their doorstep.

"Your brother's not ready for me to meet his parents yet." Ray knew why Kai didn't want her to go with him and though it stung a bit, she tried to help him out. "So I'll come next time, okay?"

"Noooooo..." Miho whined. Erena and Kai sighed in an identical manner, before Kai motioned to Erena to take care of the problem. Erena walked forward and grabbed Miho by the collar, tugging the whining girl back.

"Man, you sure you the older brother?" Hiro whispered to Kai in his deep bass voice while nodding over at Erena appreciatively. "She looks REALLY grown up, man."

"Don't look at my sisters." Kai scowled protectively. "I'm serious."

"Hey, it's cool, man." Hiro raised his hands and grinned. "Sorry, I should know better."

Kai nodded gruffly while Hiro grinned, secretly thinking the young man was really... well... cute when he was being all big-brother.

"It's fine." Kai replied, trying to compose himself again. A beat, then he said with a grin, "But they are cute, aren't they? My family's got some good genes."

"Sez you." Hiro snorted but laughed along with Kai. Goodbyes were drawn out and prolonged, with Miho and Erena jumping into Ray's car to 'oo' and 'ah' at the luxurious interior.

"You sure I can't give you a ride?" Ray had taken Kai's hand again and it was impossible for Kai to shake it off without garnering the disapproval of Mama Wakamatsu who seemed to be stuck on having the 'boys' behave like proper gentlemen.

"We'll walk. I wanna talk with these two, anyways." Kai, on the pretense of opening the door for Ray, let go of the Diva's hand. "You go ahead. I'll see you later."

Ray puckered up her lips, waiting for a kiss.

"Hentai. Not gonna do that in front of the kids." Kai growled.

"So when they're not around?" Ray teased. Kai rolled his eyes, waited for Ray to get all the way inside the car and closed the door. Giving Hiro a jaunty wave, he stepped back as the car pulled away.

With the girls gone and everyone that was not aware of their secret gone, the boys let out a huge sigh of relief.

"FINALLY!" Riku motioned for Kai to come back into the house. "I'm sure you're gonna want to get changed before leaving."

"Yeah." Kai nodded towards the house, addressing his sisters. "Can you guys hang around while I get out of costume?"

The two nodded and Riku and Kai strolled back inside. It didn't take too long for Asahi and Nami to make their way downstairs, complaining loudly about Kai and Riku's girlfriends.

"It's like they just don't get the point!" Asahi lamented.

"I know." Nami agreed, her long hair tied back and up. Stopping at the entrance to the living room, Nami grinned nervously as Mama and Papa both looked her over.

Papa Wakamatsu let out a jolly laugh. "So, who do we have here?"

"Um... hi. I'm Nami, nice to meet you."

"Oh, I totally forgot Kai was a girl!" Mama whispered to Papa loudly, causing Nami to blush.

"Mama, that's rude." Asahi pointed out.

"Sorry, sorry." Mama stood up and bowed, Nami quickly mimicking the move. "I completely forgot. Kai was just so convincing!"

"Yeah." Kouhei gawked at Nami. He could not believe this was actually the blonde boy who had the Diva all over him. "You're totally a girl!"

"Thank you." Nami huffed. Erena had gravitated to Nami's side, relieved to see her sister out of her Kai outfit. It had been confusing.

"Lets go home." Kai announced to her sisters, then bowed again to Asahi's parents. "Thank you so much for having my sisters and I over."

"Nono, it was so much fun, wasn't it, Mama?" Papa popped up, grinning. "All of you should come back again some time soon!"

"Not that soon, I hope." Asahi prayed. Nami had to agree with her friend. Saying goodbye to the Wakamatsu family, Nami left with her sisters, Asahi volunteering to walk them there since they had arrived in Ray's car.

"Well, that was an exciting Obon." Asahi said humourlessly.

"Wasn't it?" Nami replied, equally dry.

"So much fun!" Miho interjected, not knowing that the two older girls were being sarcastic.

"It wasn't that bad." Erena bumped Nami playfully. "Come on, you have to admit it was kind of fun. I even enjoyed Biohazard!"

"I thought you were afraid of scary games." Nami teased.

"Oh?" Erena raised an eyebrow, looking very much like Pa in Nami's opinion. "Glad you remembered now that you're not talking to your precious Acchan."

"You were talking to Atsuko?" Asahi asked, surprised. They turned onto a larger street which was a little bit buiser than the neighbourhood they had gone through.

"Just for a little while!" Nami said defensively. "What, I can't even talk to a friend on the phone?"

"Friend, huh?" Asahi nudged Erena and the second Kawachi sister giggled. "A 'special' friend."

"Special?" Miho overheard, then turned to Nami. "All of Nami's girl friends are special!"

Nami face-palmed as Asahi and Erena tried not to laugh as the innocent Miho continued blathering on.

"That's cuz Nami doesn't have any girl friends! Only guy friends!" Miho chirped. "So Ray and Maeda Atsuko are special friends! And Asahi too!"

Asahi stopped laughing abruptly and protested, "Don't put me in the same crowd as them."

"So which crowd are you in?" Miho asked.

"Best friend." Asahi smiled at Nami, who smiled back, unsure of whether to retaliate for the 'special' friends comment. "Me and Hinata are Nami's best friends."

"Hinata?"

"Kuu." Asahi whispered. Miho made an 'o' shape with her mouth. Then Miho smiled and asked innocently. "So you guys have sleepovers?"

"Uh... no, sleepovers are reserved for Nami's 'special' friends. Ray and Atsuko." Asahi snickered. Erena was smart enough to get the joke and was trying to hold her laughter.

"Hey, I *told* you guys Acchan and I are just friends!" Nami complained.

"Oooo... Just Acchan, eh?" Asahi picked up on the omission of Ray's name.

"Ray and I aren't even friends, she just has weird ideas about our relationship and I'm forced to agree on it." Nami muttered. "The most we have is a working relationship."

"That's... a little bit sad, don't you think?" Erena frowned, what Nami had just said bothering her. "And cruel."

"What? How? It's cruel of her to force herself on me." Nami argued.

"But you're lying to her. She really likes you." Erena bit her lower lip while Miho looked on curiously, unsure of what they were talking about. "And even if you don't like her like that-"

"There's no if. I don't like her like that." Nami interjected.

"-as a friend, you shouldn't treat people like that." Erena finished in a huff. "If you don't like her, you don't like her. Don't just lead her on."

"I-" Nami blinked, unsure of herself, once again.

"You know," Asahi sighed, remembering long time ago when Jiro had tried to stand up to her ex-boyfriend for her. Remembered how it felt to be played. "Your sister is right. It is kind of mean to lead her on."

"It's what I have to do." Nami shrugged helplessly. "Shachou said so-"

Miho took this time to add in her two-cents, seeing the right opportunity. She didn't know what they were talking about but it seemed a good time to say something! "Nobody bosses Nami around!"

"Ray's actually really nice. You should just come clean to her-not about who you are, but where your relationship is." Erena pointed out. Asahi and Nami both snorted in disbelief. Ray? Nice? That word shouldn't ever be used to describe the Diva!

"When did you start bossing me around, huh?" Nami hugged Erena close with one arm, squeezing her tightly. "When did you get to be such a smarty-pants?"

"You mean, smart-ass." Miho chimed in.

"Miho, no bad words or else mom's gonna freak on me again." Nami warned then went back to the subject at hand. "I'll deal with it, really. Don't worry. You know me."

Nami beamed at Erena and the girl smiled back. The girl had complete faith in her older sister to lead the way, to be just, to be kind, to set a good example. Nami was her idol.

"Aw, are you gonna hug it out?" Asahi asked in a really obnoxious voice.

"Hug! Hug! Hug! Hug!" Miho bounced around, demanding to be in on the action too.

"Okay, come here." Nami was blushing to the roots of her hair as she hugged her two sisters. "Miho, I'm gonna tell ma not to let you have sugar for the entire week."

"Nooooo..." Miho was stuck on 'whine' mode. "But sugar makes everything stand out so much more! THE COLOURSSSSS..."

Nami had guessed rightly, that Miho's darty eyes and jumpy state was because of all the icecream she had had. As they stopped in the middle of the walkway, someone walked past them, onwards to the station. Miho's eyes immediately followed this person, their sex undetermined because of the hood they had on... but from the height of the person, she'd have to peg the person as a guy.

"What are you looking at?" Erena noticed Miho's unwavering stare and turned to look, seeing no-one in particular.

"I think there's someone following us!" Miho exclaimed suddenly. "When we left Asahi's house, I saw someone!"

"It's Asahi-nee-san." Nami corrected, but exchanged looks with Asahi. Someone might be following them?

"Maybe you did have too much sugar." Erena shook her head and sighed.

"No, when we left, I kept seeing them!" Miho stomped her feet, grumpy that they were just brushing her observations aside. "This guy was definitely following us!"

"Should we call shachou?" Nami asked Asahi nervously. Asahi nodded, taking out her phone and calling their manager. Better safe than sorry.

"WHY ARE YOU CALLING?"

Asahi pulled the phone away from her ear and winced. Saeko was obviously not in the mood to get phone calls from her talents right now.

"Saekoooo..." Marilyn's voice in the background, speaking in THAT tone told Asahi that she had interrupted something.

"Sorry for the interruption," Asahi said hurriedly, hoping that they would put their activities on pause. "But it seems as if there might be someone following us. I'm with Nami right now."

There was a brief silence, then a dial tone.

"She hung up on me!" Asahi exclaimed, astounded and angry.

"So what do we do?" Nami held her sisters tightly. It didn't matter if people were after her, but if they went after her family...

Asahi's phone rang again and they all shrieked a bit. The people walking past looked at the girls strangely and gave them a wide berth.

"Moshi-moshi-"

"There's nothing you need to worry about." Saeko's voice was her normal, flat, soothing tone. "Just go back home. The people chasing you are running after some decoys."

Asahi relayed the information to Nami. Nami motioned for the phone and Asahi passed it to her small friend.

Nami walked away from the group a bit then asked in a low voice, "What about our families?"

"The people looking for you won't hurt a hair on your family's head and they won't grab your families to force you to come out of hiding." Saeko sighed. "Honestly, young girls nowadays watch too much dramas. The people who are after you don't want to make a big scene. They're after you for a big reason, we just don't know what yet. What we do know is that they can't risk tipping off the police so they're being as low-key as possible."

"Who are these people?" Nami questioned, a bit worried still.

"Most likely Yakuza-types." Saeko said impatiently. "Now excuse me, I'm trying to spend Obon the way I like. Marilyn, just lift up a little bit..."

"Iyaaaah... It won't fit in there-"

Nami hung up, shuddering. L's! She HATED them!

"So we're fine." Nami looked at Asahi, a bit worried. She handed Asahi's phone back, the little purupuru hanging from the tall girl's phone, the source of all their problems. "But could you call your brother to come get you? We'll wait until he comes."

They hung around the station until Kouhei showed up to pick up Asahi. Only then did Nami leave with her sisters.

"I'll stick with the taller one." Someone was watching the tiny group seperate while speaking into a cellphone. "Yes. Yes. Of course. I understand. I'll give them this last night with their families, then I'll bring them in tomorrow."

The tall man Miho had seen before flipped his phone shut, his last words sounding quite ominous.

* * *

Nami woke up in the morning, refreshed and to a cheery morning message from Ray that she replied to automatically with a short and brief 'morning'. Seeing another message, she opened it and smiled at Atsuko's little rundown of her day and her free days that week of which there was only one. They were trying to match days so they could meet.

Extracting herself from Erena and Miho-who had sandwiched Nami between them-she went to the washroom to wash up and get ready to go back to her idol life. In the washroom, her phone rang and Nami quickly picked it up, not wanting to wake up her sisters or any of her brothers who might still be sleeping.

"Hello?"

"Nami?" Asahi sounded... weird. "Are you ready?"

"Just about. I just need to change."

"I'm outside. But you don't have to come out, we can just go-" There was a little scuffle in the background. "I mean, come out as soon as you can."

Then the line went dead. Frowning at the phone, Nami finished her business and quickly got dressed. Going back to the room she shared with her sisters, she tried to move around as quietly as she could, but Erena woke up.

"Sis?" Erena rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Where are you going?"

"I have to go." Nami smiled and knelt down near her sister, brushing Erena's unkempt hair. "Take care of Miho, okay? And call me if you have any problems. I already talked to some of my friends last night, they'll take care of Hario-"

"When are you coming back?" Erena sat up, the movement making Miho shift around a bit and frown.

"When I get time off, okay?" Nami shrugged, putting a hand on Miho like she used to when the girl was a baby, the comforting pressure usually helped put Miho back to sleep. It did. "I need to see my schedule, then I'll text you, okay?"

"Alright." Erena nodded and held out her arms sleepily. Nami sighed and shook her head, but obliged her younger sister. Nami gave Erena a hug, lightly pinched Miho's chubby face then grabbed her duffel bag and left the room. Couple more people to say goodbye to...

"Yo," Nami opened the door to Shouta's room. "I'm gone."

Shouta was lying facedown on his bed. He attempted to wave good-bye but only managed to lift his hand up half-way, before giving up and letting it fall again.

"Stop gaming so late." Nami picked up a rolled up pair of socks from the floor and flung it at her brother's head. He grunted when it made contact but didn't move anymore. Nami closed the door and went on to Ichiro's room, knocked and opened the door. Her brother was still sleeping, light snore coming from his form. Since this was originally her room and Ichiro was just visiting, Nami knew that she had markers in the top drawer of the desk in this room. Quietly sneaking over to her desk, she grabbed a red marker and tip-toed over, fully set on drawing something on her oldest brother's face-

"You try and you die." Ichiro's eyes were still closed.

"Eheh." Nami put the marker carefully on the floor.

"Good. Now walk out. I'll see you next time we're both home." Ichiro continued to talk with his eyes closed. It was creepy. "And remember, don't put out unless your customers buy a couple of bottles of your club's most expensive champagne-"

"I'm not a hostess!" Nami huffed and stomped out, hearing Ichiro chuckling as she made her way downstairs.

"Ma," Nami walked into the small kitchenette to see her mother cooking.

"Nami, you're awake early." Ma Kawachi smiled at her middle child. "Come on, I made you breakfast. Are your brothers and sisters up yet-"

"No, I gotta go now, bye!" Nami said quickly and tried to make her escape.

"Just a minute young lady!" Ma's voice rose several decibels. "Where are you going?"

"This is all the vacation I get, I gotta go back to work!" Nami hated how her voice took on a whining tone.

"What job? You should just come home-"

Nami wasn't going to stick around and listen to the same old song, making herself deaf to her mom's screeching lecture.

"Da," Nami ducked her head into the dining room where her father was reading the newspaper and having his breakfast. "I'm going!"

Her father grunted, nodding. Nami turned to go but stopped when her dad's gruff voice called her back.

"Da?" Nami asked politely.

"Ganbatte, yo." He held up a fist. "I'm proud of you, no matter what you do."

Nami knew these words made her dad uncomfortable as he immediately raised his newspaper to hide his face.

"Yes sir!" Nami could feel her dad's awkward attempt at affection and it was appreciated. Very much so. Running out the door with barely enough time to put on her shoes, there was a black van waiting outside with a tall man in a black fedora hat and a black suit. The hat successfully obscured his face. It also helped that he immediately ducked his head into a small bow when she came out.

"Ma'am," He pulled open the van door, letting Nami in, then shutting the door as soon as she jumped in.

"Erena!" Miho had woken up when Ma had started screeching. Hearing the door slam, the youngest sister had scrambled to the window to catch a last glimpse of her older sister. "Look! Come here, look! That's the guy I saw yesterday following us! Erenaaaaa!"

But Erena had dozed off again and the van had already driven off out of sight.

* * *

endnote: Oh noes! Asahi and Nami seem to be in trouble! Who is that mystery man?


	24. Chapter 24

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 24

author's note: who are these wiley kidnappers? By the time when they get to the Komonohashi Agency and you STILL don't know... tell me cuz it'll be funny.

* * *

"How did they find us?" Nami whispered to Asahi. They clutched at each other fearfully as the driver in front kept silent, his driving impeccable.

"We'll be at the Kamonohashi agency soon," Their kidnapper announced. "Please be patient."

"What about Hinata?" Asahi asked anxiously. When Nami realized she had been kidnapped, she had immediately wanted to phone the police. Before she could press the call button, the forboding man had spoken up.

"If you're wondering, my associate has gone to collect your friend... Hinata, was it? You don't have to call her. She's safe. For now." The thinly veiled threat wasn't lost on Nami and she slowly lowered her phone. There would be no calling the police.

"What about her?" The driver glanced at them in the rear-view mirror. In addition to his hat, he also had a pair of dark aviator sunglasses. For a kidnapper, his voice was surprisingly smooth and soft, though gravelly. He sounded nothing like the yakuzas in the movie that always spoke in a loud voice with a tough 'R'-rolling accent.

Nami was a bundle of nerves and was cursing herself for rushing headlong into this trap. "Is she okay?"

"My associate will make things... as comfortable as possible. Though... sometimes the journey is a bit rough." He chuckled, as if he had just said a funny joke but Nami and Asahi grew sick with fear.

"If you guys have hurt her-"

"Oh, no no. She'll be delivered to the agency intact... mostly." The driver shrugged and chuckled again. Tense silence filled the van again and the two idols looked at each other, extremely worried for their cohort.

"Why are we going back to the agency?" Asahi suddenly asked. She'd think that they'd take them to some yakuza hideout and have them dispatched.

"I have to talk to Kamonohashi-san, of course." He explained patiently, as if they were stupid children. "We need to have a discussion, of sorts."

That didn't sound good at all. They fell into a tense silence before their kidnapper spoke up again.

"Relax, I don't bite. Here," He turned on the stereo system in the van. "Listen to some Michael Jackson. He's the best."

Not saying another word, they sat there fearfully as their driver hummed along to MJ's music, seemingly completely oblivious or at least, completely uncaring of his passengers' discomfort. They arrived at Kamonohashi Agency soon enough and he got out of the car to open the door for them, waving them towards house.

"Ladies first." He seemed confident that they wouldn't try to escape and it was true... they wouldn't because they had Hinata. Entering the house, the kidnapper entered moments later with their luggage while they watched him, cautious of any sudden movements he might make. They were stunned when he put down their bags and took off his fedora revealing a mass of long silky hair that came tumbling down, mid-way down this kidnapper's back. The sunglasses came off too and it became quite apparent to Asahi and Nami that they were looking at a woman. Plus, their eyes wandered down a bit and they suddenly noticed two very obvious protrusions around this woman's chest area. Why the hell didn't they notice this before?

"You're a woman?" Asahi and Kai gaped at the tall woman who looked quite offended.

"I have a bit of a cold so my voice is a bit strange, but I thought that was readily apparent." The woman cleared her throat a bit. She had a slightly olive complexion, making her look almost foreign but her Japanese was perfect with no hint of an accent. Knowing she was a woman didn't make her any less scary, though, especially now that the sunglasses weren't covering her eyes. She wore a fierce expression almost all the time and Kai was pretty sure in a battle of wills, this woman might even win against Hiro.

"Where's Hinata right now?" Asahi asked, inching to the couch carefully so she could sit down. She had to think of a plan...

"On her way." The tall woman answered their questions, but not to the girls' satisfaction. "Have the two of you eaten breakfast yet?"

"No." Both the girls shook their heads.

"Why don't I make breakfast. We're going to be here for a while." The kidnapper smiled, pleased with herself as if she'd just given a very good suggestion. They exchanged looks with each other, then nodded slowly. As soon as the kidnapper left the room, they put their heads together.

"She seems... nice." Nami said carefully. Just as she said that, their guard looked out from the kitchen to pin them with a seriously deadly look.

"Don't try to go anywhere."

After she had ducked back into the kitchen, the girls exchanged fearful looks.

"Nice? About as nice as a crocodile!" hissed Asahi. "What are we going to do?"

"Well," Nami looked around desperately and pointed to one of the garish lamps Saeko had around. "We'll wait until Hinata gets in, then take out these guys with Saeko's lamps."

"Okay, what about Saeko and Marilyn?" Asahi pointed out.

"If they take a while, we can call them." Nami nudged Asahi who quickly dialed Marilyn's number but was unable to get through. Saeko's phone was also off. Asahi stared at the phone in her hands, worried.

"You can't reach them?" Nami's face paled.

"They might've gotten them already." Asahi said fearfully.

"We should just call the police."

"No! We can't call the police, you don't know what these people will do, and our identities-"

"How do you girls like your eggs-who are you calling?" Their guard's tone, which had been friendly at first, immediately changed to a dangerous growl when she saw Asahi with cellphone in hand.

"No-one." Asahi and Nami chorused together. Their guard looked at them suspiciously for a while, then relaxed and asked her egg question again and the girls replied dutifully.

"Alright, scrambled and sunny-side up. Coming right up!" Their guard disappeared into the kitchen again. They didn't have much time to continue scheming when they suddenly heard Hinata's voice on the other side of the front door and a loud banging.

"Help! Please, open up!" It was Hinata! Nami and Asahi raced to the door, flinging it open just as Hinata and another person dressed similarily to their kidnapper stumbled in and ran for the washroom. Bewildered, Nami and Asahi followed, only to have the door slammed in their face. A horrible retching sound could be heard from inside.

"Hinata? Hinata!" Nami pounded on the door, desperate to get inside. The horrible noises continued with Asahi and Nami outside, out of their minds with worry... until a hand clamped down on both their shoulders and pulled them back.

"Move aside." Their guard tsked. Taking a bobby-pin out of her hair and snapping it in two, then deftly picked the lock. It had taken all of 2 seconds to do. Pulling the door open, they all looked in at a decked-out-in-loli-wear Hinata, rubbing the lower back of another kidnapper as he tried to throw up into the toilet.

"Ew." Asahi wrinkled up her nose in disgust.

"Woah-ho." Asahi and Nami's kidnapper appluaded Hinata. "Good job! You're the first one to make Miyazawa fall for her own tricks!"

The other kidnapper named Miyazawa raised her head and glared at the still-nameless kidnapper, then leaned back against the wall and groaned.

"What happened?" Asahi grabbed Hinata and pulled her out of the room and Nami in turn, pushed the loli girl behind herself. Both Asahi and Nami were surprised that, once again, the other kidnapper was a woman. Miyazawa had totally looked like a guy from behind with her short hair!

"This stupid idiot probably wanted to impress her passenger and decided to drive like a reckless idiot." The long-haired kidnapper explained, quite rightly it seemed as Miyazawa looked sufficiently sheepish. "You've met your match, eh?"

"Shut up, Sayaka." Miyazawa muttered, getting up on shaky legs. Hinata had actually ran off to the kitchen while everybody was talking and had come back with a glass of water for Miyazawa to rinse out her mouth.

"What are you doing?" Asahi hissed, pulling Hinata back and away from their kidnappers.

"Helping!" Hinata chirped cheerfully.

"Why?" Nami scowled at Hinata. The kidnappers were engrossed in trading quips with one another and, trading glances with Asahi, Nami and Asahi lunged forward and pushed Sayaka into the washroom.

"What-"

"Go!" Asahi had her shoulder against the door. "Save yourselves! I'll meet up with you three later-mwaaaa!"

The door was shoved open and Asahi went flying into Nami and Hinata's arms.

"YOU THREE." Sayaka snarled, not looking happy at all.

"Run!" Nami screeched, Asahi quickly complying since it seemed like such a great idea. Hinata, though, was sort of not cooperating, her face set in a pout.

"Why are we running?" Hinata complained. She didn't run in her loli-gear, ever! Lolitas were graceful and WALKED!

Asahi ducked under Sayaka's arm with an eep and ran upstairs. Why the hell was she running upstairs?

"What the hell are you doing?" Nami hollered up at Asahi as she ran from the tall kidnapper.

"I don't knowwwwww!" Asahi screamed, managing to make it to their bedroom. She slammed the door close and locked it. Unable to get in and having lost her make-shift lockpicks, Sayaka pounded on the door.

"Open up!"

"Nooooooo..." Asahi's fearful howl was... comical if the situation wasn't so scary. Meanwhile, Nami had made it to the front door and yanked it open, running out into the street with Hinata in tow-and almost getting hit by a taxi if Hinata hadn't pulled back at the right time. The taxi screeched to a stop right in front of them, the hood blocking Nami's way.

"Wah!" The small woman's forward momentum wrenched her hand away from Hinata and Nami did a roll over the hood of the taxi and plopped down on the other side, the passengers in the taxi screaming.

"Yo, what the hell, slow down when you're driving on small streets-shachou? Marilyn?" There, in the back of the taxi was Marilyn and Saeko, still screaming, but this time in anger. Nami jumped in beside Marilyn, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

"No, time! Lets call the police! Screw our identities!" Nami hissed and took her phone out, but Marilyn immediately grabbed it away from Nami.

"What are you doing?" Marilyn snapped.

"What is ASAHI doing?" Saeko unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the taxi. There was Asahi, hanging out from the second-floor window, kicking her legs desperately. Miyazawa was right underneath the window, watching Asahi in amusement.

"I can't hold onnnn..." Asahi groaned. Within seconds, she had fallen and it was a good thing Miyazawa was right there. She caught Asahi in her arms, falling to the ground and cushioning the idol's fall.

"Oh man.." Miyazawa pushed Asahi off. "That hurt..."

"I'm so sorry, are you alrig-wah!" Asahi was hauled off her feet by a dark-faced Sayaka.

"WHAT is going on here?" Saeko had stormed up to the building, with Marilyn following along and Nami in tow.

"They're kidnappers!" Asahi screeched, trying to pull away from Sayaka. "They want to kill us!"

Nami nodded in agreement, trying to pull away from the grip Marilyn had on her arm. Hinata was watching the whole scene in bewilderment.

"...what?" Saeko blinked.

* * *

Everybody was settled inside the house with a nice tea and breakfast. Asahi and Nami's faces were red from Saeko pinching their cheeks in punishment and Miyazawa was trying hard not to laugh while Sayaka just looked... depressed.

"So once again, these are your new bodyguards." Marilyn glowered at Asahi and Nami. "NOT kidnappers."

"Too be fair, it is sort of Sayaka's fault that she didn't tell these kids who she was." The short-haired bodyguard grinned, then gave a short bow. "Hajimemashite, I'm Miyazawa Sae. I"ll be working with all of you from now on and protecting you three. Yoroshiku."

"Yoroshiku." The girls all bowed.

"My name is Akimoto Sayaka." Sayaka still looked really depressed. Her new wards thought she had been trying to kill them? She just... was not starting off on the right foot. "I apologize again for the scare I gave you two, I really had thought that you knew who I was when you jumped into my van... and I didn't mean to sound so threatening... I'm sorry!"

Sayaka bowed really low which caused Asahi and Nami to do the same.

"Really," Marilyn tsked, going right into work mode. "That was extremely negligent of you, Akimoto-san."

"My most sincerest apologies, that won't happen again." Sayaka kept her head down, fearfully. She needed this job. A hand on her shoulder made her look up into Saeko's face.

"I'm sure these two idiots were at fault. Just don't let it happen again." Saeko patted Sayaka's shoulder gently.

"I take full responsibility for everything, anyways." The serious bodyguard bowed low, still feeling horrified. Asahi could've broken her legs jumping out that window! Sayaka was a young bodyguard and had trouble getting hired because, even though she was tall and imposing, she was a woman and had gone into a very non-traditional line of work in the male-dominated security industry.

Sayaka had finally found a job after much searching and proving herself, but had been forced to resign because of a scandal. Bodyguards were supposed to protect you and your reputation, but Sayaka had managed to botch that up. Saeko had found out it was through no fault of her own, of course, but it had lead to her dismissal. Even at the interview, Sayaka had omitted the mistake her previous boss had made in order to protect him, even though it might have cost her the employment. Saeko had admired the woman's loyalty and set her up for the task of distracting Asahi and Nami's pursuers. Which Sayaka had passed with flying colours.

"Alright you two." Marilyn could see Saeko wasn't going to budge on Sayaka's hired-status. "You two need to guard these girls with your lives. You need to guard their secrets with your lives. Their safety is in your hands."

"And of course, the both of you have realized that they have dangeorus people looking for them." Saeko watched Sae and Sayaka's face turn serious. They had, as a preliminary test, distracted the people chasing after Asahi and Nami. The men in black were definitely yakuza and definitely dangerous. While dropping these breadcrumbs for these men to follow, the two had recognized a few of them. Known gangsters affiliated with a violent sub-group of an old syndicate.

"Hinata is not being chased by these men, but it doesn't mean you should protect her any less." Marilyn added. "Their schedules every day will be shared with you two and you must ascertain the risks and coordinate with other security personnel at various public events they might be engaged in..."

While Marilyn went through a list of what they would be doing and brought out a stack of profiles with corresponding pictures of people they would be in close contact with, Asahi's phone rang.

"Moshi-moshi!" Asahi sipped some tea.

"Riku?" Katsuyuki-san's voice almost made Asahi drop her cup. Coughing a few times, she deepened her voice slightly to sound more like her male persona.

"Katsuyuki-san." Saeko looked up sharply at the mention of the young director's name.

"Um, just calling to, uh, you know, uh..." Katsuyuki was struggling to speak. "I just wanted to say I missed you!"

His statement was blurted out hurriedly and Asahi had trouble understanding him.

"What?"

"At work. I missed you at work." Katsuyuki corrected quickly. "When are you coming back? I know you guys have some more songs to finish up."

Unfortunately for Katsuyuki-san, he was not like Ray, who could just drop everything and rush to Okinawa to have fun. He had seen some of the pictures in the newspapers and regretted not being able to see Riku in real life in his wetsuit. He had also been privy to some of the more private shots of the actors on set in swimming trunks (with their shirts on, unfortunately) and was ashamed to say there had been... a reaction when he had seen Riku's bare legs in those pictures. Kai and Kuu looked pretty good too, but Riku had been incredibly sexy... because sexy was what sold! Yes! He was looking at the marketability of his people, he was definitely not eyeing Riku as if he was a piece of delicious meat!

"Hold on," Asahi covered the mouth-piece with her hand. "Katsuyuki-san wants to know if we're recording today."

"Give me the phone." Saeko took Asahi's cellphone. "Katsuyuki-san! Yes, yes, I'm well..."

Saeko stood up and walked to the office to flip through Persona's schedule book. They had been booked pretty full until the winter and Saeko had gotten a new song she wanted Persona to perform for their next single that would pave the way for their first album.

"Him?" Sayaka held up a folder with a short bio of Katsuyuki-san and a picture of the young director, ripped out from a magazine.

"Yup." Hinata had taken to the two bodyguards almost immediately, fearless in the face of Sayaka's fierce eyes. "He's mostly harmless but he's gay for Asahi."

"Oh-ho, someone has a little romance, huh?" Sae peeked at the profile in Sayaka's hand. A big red DOESN'T KNOW was written on the profile. "But it says he 'doesn't know'. So... wait... he likes Riku?"

Hinata giggled, nodding enthusiastically. Asahi reaching forward and flicking her ear stopped her, though. "Ow."

"He's not gay." Asahi mummbled. "And we're not in a romance!"

Profiles were flipped through quickly as the bodyguards asked questions about everybody they came across.

"That's one of Kai's girlfriends-" Hinata eeped as Nami threw a pillow at the loli's head.

"We're fake dating!" Nami hissed, looking around frantically. Marilyn and Saeko were both in the office, still talking to Katsuyuki and rifling through paperwork.

"Why fake dating?" Sayaka leaned forward, all business. Nami took Maeda Atsuko's profile carefully, smiling slightly at the picture they have of her on there. It was a flattering shot of her, listening attentively to what someone was saying to her.

"Well, we..." Nami struggled to find the words.

"It says here she 'doesn't know'." Sayaka pointed out. She had seen the look Nami had cast at her management and was pretty sure that that 'doesn't know' should probably be changed to a 'does know'. "I know maybe you have some... secrets you want to keep. But you shouldn't be keeping them from me or Sae. We're here to protect you so we need to learn as much as we can. I won't divulge your secrets if you don't want but things like this might be important later on for your bodyguards to know-"

"What Sayaka's trying to say," Sae rolled her eyes. Seriously, lighten up, Sayaka! "Is that you can tell us anything and we'll do what we can to protect you. But the more we know, the better we'll be at our job. As long as your secrets don't stop us from doing our job, we'll keep them for you."

"Sae's awesome." Hinata beamed at the short-haired woman. Already, the two were on a first name basis. Sae was talkative and energetic, very charismatic in her own way. Sayaka sometimes broke out of her serious persona, she was definitely more reserved.

"We'll keep you in the loop, of course." Asahi said diplomatically. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience we have caused you."

Sayaka and Asahi bowed to each other, muttering pleasant apologies, going through the motions quite well while Nami eyed the pile of profiles Marilyn and Saeko had set up for the bodyguards. These were a pile of names, pictures and info on the people that Persona interacted with a lot. Of course, Ray's profile was there. There was a shiny star sticker at the corner of the profile.

'Ray, number one selling artist in Japan as of present. The Diva, she is romantically connected to Kai. Special access to Kai is allowed.'

"What is this crap?" Nami muttered, casting around for a pen. Finding one, she inserted the word 'not' between the words 'is' and 'romantically' and the words 'is' and 'allowed'.

"Is not romantically connected." Nami grumpily passed the sheet over to Sayaka. "There was a mistake in her profile. And keep her away from me. Hell no to special access."

"The charismatic Diva?" Sae looked over Sayaka's shoulder excitedly. "She's a grade 'A' celebrity! When I saw this, I was like, how'd you land that one?"

"She's a stalker, that's what she is." Nami muttered. Sayaka listened carefully, taking Nami's complaints seriously.

"But she did come with you to Wakamatsu-san's house." Sayaka pointed out.

"That was... under special circumstances." Nami growled and crossed her arms, refusing to give the reason when Hinata prodded her about it.

"I don't think it'll be good if you're thinking of cutting this thing you have with Ray." Sayaka mused distractedly. Nami raised an eyebrow, curious.

"Why do you say that?"

Sayaka and Sae shared a look before Sae started talking. "We've talked to Saeko-shachou about this already, but there have been other people besides those guys after you, looking into the three of you. We've traced it back to Ray, specifically. She's actually gotten a lot further in her investigation than anybody else, just because the yakuzas are looking for Nami and Asahi and don't have a body to follow; that trail had been covered. Persona is being targetted in this investigation. And you three, have been under surveillance."

Hinata, Asahi and Nami were alarmed.

"But it doesn't seem as if she really knows anything." Sae shrugged. "That's why special access is allowed. She seems clueless enough as is, since she's still hanging around you. Being the type of person she is, we're pretty sure if Ray knew anything she'd bust your ass pretty quick."

Everybody knew Ray could be a huge bitch. They all assumed it would not be beneath Ray to throw Kai to the wolves if she knew, that much everybody was sure. The Diva would feel betrayed and lied to and she'd totally ruin them!

"So special access is allowed because it'll keep her happy." Sayaka explained. "The happier she is, we're hoping, the less she'll get her people to dig around about you guys. It might've worked too because investigations seemed to have stopped after Okinawa."

"Damnit." Nami cursed, seriously in a dilemna now. It bothered her that she'd have to keep up this farce. Not only because it was embarassing with Ray hanging all over her, but she didn't want to let Erena down. What her little sisters thought of her meant a lot. They kept her grounded, honest, humble and good. Also, it was a little bit unfair to Ray that she was in love with a male-impersonator. Nami was starting to feel pretty guilty about that after Erena had pointed it out.

"Ah!" Asahi's little cry of dismay drew her attention and she pulled out two profiles. One was Yuko, looking quite beautiful and sober in her profile shot. Obviously, this was a picture provided by her agency. "Give me your pen, quick!"

Nami passed her writing tool to the taller girl and she immediately crossed out and wrote down several sentences.

"Extremely dangerous sexual harasser," Sae read out loud, snickering. "Keep away from Riku... she's actually a sexual harasser?"

"She grabs my boobs all the time." Asahi blushed, pouting.

"Isn't that like skinship?" Sae asked curiously, reading over Asahi's scribbles.

"It's not skinship!" Asahi snapped. "It's sexual harassment! When a woman is subjected to unwanted touching, THAT is sexual harassment!"

"Okay, okay!" Sae raised her hands in surrender. "Geez, I was just joking..."

"We'll watch out for her too." Sayaka tsked. "Oshima-san is usually harmless, though-"

"You guys just aren't taking me seriously." Asahi grumbled.

"We are." Sae consoled the other woman. "It's just that we're also using our own personal knowledge of her."

"You guys know her?" Hinata asked.

Sayaka nodded. "When we were both looking for work, we part-timed at events and she was at one of them. She's a powerhouse in social settings."

Hinata had been flipping through profiles and froze when someone's face came into the picture.

"Pen, please." Hinata asked for the pen in a strange voice. Still talking to the bodyguards, Asahi gave it to Hinata distractedly. It wasn't until Hinata tried to shuffle the profile back into the pile that Asahi caught on that Hinata had changed something too.

"Who was that?" Asahi asked Hinata suspiciously.

"What?" Hinata feigned innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Asahi, not believing a word out of Hinata's mouth, flipping through the profiles until she found the one Hinata had scribbled on. Mariko's profile. The model's face had been drawn on, with horns, a unibrow and mustache with flames coming out of her mouth. It was a full body shot but Hinata had managed to draw the body of a dinosaur from Mariko's neck and a tiny city around the feet of the dinosaur with little stick people running around screaming 'runaway! it's an ancient dinosaur!'

"How did you manage to draw all this so fast?" Nami looked at the drawing, dumb-founded. Of course, the information had been changed too. Instead of relevant information, Hinata had written down stats, as if Mariko-dinosaur was one of Ultraman's enemies.

Age: Oldest living dinosaur from the jurassic period

Special Attacks: Curry breath and stupidness

Wanted for crimes against humanity for being so ugly. Kill on sight.

"Um..." Sayaka didn't know what to make of the info. So just decided to ignore it. Sae and her had already gone through the profiles already and knew each face and the relevant cleareance they had by heart anyways. She had just brought these out to let the three look over these people and add their input. Sayaka didn't know it was going to get stupid.

As the women pored over the files, Marilyn came back to the room and announced it was time for the boys to appear. The three in question all groaned a little bit but the sound of Saeko's whip snapping from her office sent the boys scurrying up the stairs. Moments later, Riku, Kai and Kuu came downstairs. The transformation was subtle, but changed the girls drastically. If Sayaka and Sae hadn't known these boys were actually girls in disguise, they wouldn't have guessed.

"Make-up does work wonders!" Sae was amused as she stared up at the three young men, all dressed in semi-work clothes. Riku had on a shirt and a tie with slacks, holding up a pair of nice, brown leather shoes to ask Sae for her opinion on them. Kuu was in a nice sweater, tight jeans and boots. Kai was in a shirt too, but it was untucked, his pants were slightly baggy and he was in his beat-up runners.

"What?" Kai looked around at the disapproving faces.

"You look like a punkass highschooler. Go upstairs and change." Marilyn ordered. "I want you in a shirt that's not wrinkled and pants that don't hang as low as that! And wear some NICE shoes."

"Of all the..." Kai grumbled, stomping back upstairs. He was down in no time, in a simple v-neck tee with a light jacket over that. He wore a pair of straight cut jeans and a pair of high-top sneakers.

"Much better." Saeko pursed her lips. "Alright, move!"

* * *

"_Hey, look who's back!_" Paul called out in English. Candy waved excitedly at the boys from her drumset. "How was Okinawa?"

"_Hey Paul! How's it going?_ Okinawa was so nice!" Asahi grinned and bowed to Paul. "Tokyo's getting a bit cold now."

"Naoooo..." Kuu was in Nao's arms, who cooed over the boy as he complained about Mariko and how she had been so mean to him. "And she's so ugly in real life too! Her nose is weird and she smells!"

"Really?" Nao was astonished. Shinoda Mariko, the beautiful model featured in almost every fashion magazine of note, smelled?

"Of curry!" Kuu insisted.

"Seriously, don't listen to him. Mariko's nice." Kai rolled his eyes at Kuu and the coddling he was getting. The blonde gave Hideki a high-five and motioned their boyguards forward. "Guys, just wanna introduce you to some people. Seems like our management decided we needed boyguards."

Sae and Sayaka, decked in dark suits, bowed to the recording room crew, introducing themselves.

"Hi!" Paul put down his guitar quickly, trotting over to the two bodyguards, stars in his eyes. "My name's Paul!"

Kuu grinned, seeing how completely smitten Paul was by the two tall bodyguards. Sae gave Paul a friendly smile, but Sayaka did one better and said her hellos in English.

"_Oh! You can speak English?_" Even better for Paul!

"_My mother is a Filipino-jin._" Sayaka explained, her English accented but understandable. "_She used to talk to me all the time in English, but she only uses it to yell at me now._"

After the introductions Sae and Sayaka both excused themselves so the ikemen group and their crew can get on with their recording session.

"I really think that you guys should try for a more... natural kind of voice." Hideki struggled to explain himself as they talked about what they would do for the voice recording. "A lot of artists like to squeeze out a little bit more power, or try for that higher note... but I think you three should stay within your comfort zone for songs like 'Water'."

Nao agreed, to into depth about how that would work for songs in the style of 'Water', while a Kai's baby, a rock-pop song he had scribbled out on the plane ride back from Okinawa, would sound better if they screamed the lyrics out at the top of their lungs. The whole crew was used to giving suggestions, used to Persona listening to them carefully. They were all invested in this first album of Persona's which was beginning to be less about just the boys and more of a group project. Saeko and Marilyn watched as they went over all their other songs in the album to see where they were with those, then looked over the song, 'Christmas Present', that Saeko had given to them.

"They have several variety shows requesting their appearance and several talkshows that want to interview them." Marilyn went over their schedule for this week, the management team in the room with the workstation, seperated from the actual recording room. "They also have to film a couple of commercials and I've booked them in for a few publicity events..."

Saeko nodded distractedly, watching her boys at work, with a tiny smile. She hadn't chosen the wrong people. These three would fulfill her dreams.

"I said let me pass!" An arrogant voice, muffled by the door, caught their attention outside of the room. Sae was the only bodyguard in the room and she took a quick glance through the window in the door, then ignored whatever was outside. Saeko also glanced outside and caught sight of that young talent of Sarukawa's, Keigo, through the window. He was trying to get past Sayaka but the woman was proving to be a formidable wall.

"I'm here to see Kai!" Keigo tilted his head up. "Do you know who I am?"

"Obviously, if you have to ask, then no." Sayaka replied wryly. "I don't know who you are. All I know is that you're not on the list of approved guests."

"You-!" Keigo, not being able to get around the bodyguard, backed off to quickly shoot a message off to Kai. In a few seconds, Kai was outside too, saying hello to Keigo.

"Your gorilla won't let me pass." Keigo glared at Sayaka, who glared right back. Sayaka made a personal note not to let this guy pass, EVER. Or at least make it harder for him to get in touch with Kai. She had a bad feeling about this guy.

"That's not nice." Kai frowned. At the blonde's look of disapproval, Keigo immediately changed the topic, giving the other idol a disarming grin.

"Yo, I'm supposed to be your friend, right? You should tell them in advance that I'll be popping by some times." Keigo waved away Kai's irritation. "Wanna go for lunch later?"

"For sure!" Kai nodded, completely charmed by the guy's smile. "When do you wanna eat?"

"Meet you in the cafeteria at 1-ish?"

"Yeah, sure! Seeya!" Keigo gave Sayaka one last glare before strolling down the halls.

"Kai-san," Sayaka stopped Kai from going in. "A word?"

"Yes?" Kai asked politely.

"That guy..." Sayaka's hackles had raised. Keigo was a problem, she could feel it. Her sixth sense for stuff like this was usually spot on, even though she didn't know the guy. He wasn't a friend, he wasn't someone who could keep a secret, and the hungry look in his eyes told her Keigo was up to something. "You need to be careful around him."

"He's a bit rude, yeah." Kai shrugged uncomfortably. But Keigo seemed to like hanging out with Kai! And Kai didn't want to be just hanging around L's and girls... He wanted to be around cute boys! "But he means well. Sorry bout that."

"If you say so, sir." Sayaka sighed. "Just... please be careful, sir."

"No 'sir's or 'Kai-san's." Kai grinned and patted Sayaka's arm. "Just Kai is fine. The same with Riku and Kuu too. We're gonna be spending a lot of time together, so just relax around us."

"Alright... Kai." Sayaka smiled at the young man as he made his way back in. This was going to be a nice placement, Sayaka realized.

The time passed quickly until they breaked for lunch. Kai excused himself and went to the cafeteria, finding Keigo easily. He waved Kai over.

"Hope you like spaghetti." Keigo grinned at the blonde. "I ordered for you already."

"Thanks, man." Kai grinned at the other man. "Sooooo... how's work been?"

"Man, you know work." Keigo shrugged. "Sarukawa's being a pain, I've been thinking of switching agencies... how's Kamonohashi?"

Kai shivered.

"You cold?"

Kai tried to not think of the horrifying L's he had to put up with every day. "No, no. What were we talking about?"

"Switching to Kamono-"

"LETS NOT TALK ABOUT IT." Kai's voice brooked no argument. "Just... it's a bad idea."

"Oh... kay." Keigo looked at Kai weirdly. "Soooo... how was Okinawa? How was Ray?"

"Shouldn't I ask you that?" Kai laughed. "I heard Ray made you play your guitar in the background-"

"Who'd you hear that from?" Keigo's fists pounded on the table, stopping Kai's mirth and attracting the attention of several other patrons of the cafe. Keigo was furious. "I was like some BACK-UP musician! ME! I was so pissed off and that motherfucking two ton fatass following Ray around was laughing at me the whole time! I didn't even get an introduction on the show!"

Kai blinked, a bit shocked by Keigo's rage. "Umm..."

"But it's all behind me," Keigo smoothed down his ruffled feathers, trying for another charming smile. Kai smiled back cautiously. "So MY Okinawan trip was a wash-out. Seriously, tell me about yours."

The next week, Kai saw Keigo once or twice, having lunch with him once more and having Keigo drop in on Persona's recording session once. He had immediately been evicted of course, Saeko hadn't even looked at him before ordering Sae and Sayaka to throw him out. Kai wasn't the only one to be receiving visitors as Katsuyuki-san took every opportunity to come by and see Riku, bring him gift baskets to share with the rest of his group and asking him to hang out. It was funny, really.

"So. Gay." Kuu whispered as everyone stuffed their faces with the fruits. Candy, who was sitting beside him and eating grapes, nodded her head.

"But he looks so straight!" Nao sighed, discussing the enigma that was Katsuyuki-san while the recording crew devoured the fruit basket. Paul had gotten bored of discussing Katsuyuki's sexuality and walked off to take some apples to Sae and Sayaka.

There was no mistaking the way Katsuyuki-san stuttered around Riku, the way he cast moon-eyes at the young man and the gifts he brought. The director was definitely into Riku.

"S-s-s-s-so after..." Katsuyuki motioned irratically with his hands. "You know, we could... ya know?"

"What?" Riku blinked, watching the young director nervously.

"Ya know?" Katsuyuki laughed and punched Riku's arm, a little bit harder than he intended. Riku's pained face made Katsuyuki flail his arms a bit, panicked. "Oh my god, I'm sorry!"

"Naw, it's fine." Riku smiled at Katsuyuki-san, who imagined that he could see a halo glowing around Riku's face. The young director of Sunny Music had been visiting the young man as much as he was able to since Riku got back and the more he hung out with Riku, the more interested he was in Riku! ...As a person. As a FRIEND. Just a friend. Nothing more. Not as, well, like a BOYFRIEND.

"So... what did you want?"

"Well, dinner." Katsuyuki-san blathered. He paused, realizing there were interested eyes on him. "With Kai and Kuu too, of course. To discuss-to discuss... to... where Persona is heading!"

"Well, you can just go out to dinner with our manager and Marilyn," Kai spoke up slyly. Hideki and the blonde were huddled up, giggling at the director's tongue-tiedness. "They'll update you just fine."

"B-b-b-but," Katsuyuki-san stuttered, trying to find a way around this predicament. He wanted dinner with Riku! Before Kai could tease him further, his phone vibrated, telling him he had a message.

_Yo. meet you in ten at the vending machines on 2nd floor._

Kai had been expecting a message from Ray or something, but was happy to see it was Keigo. They had been seeing each other the past few days, hanging out, just talking. He excused himself, took orders for drinks when everyone found out where he was going, and ran off. At the vending machines was Keigo, waiting for him with a smile.

"Hey, how's it hanging?"

Kai had expected Keigo to be furious with being thrown out the day before, but he was surprisingly cool.

"I'm fine. We got a publicity thing in half-an-hour; this whole week's been pretty busy. You seem to have a lot of free time recently." Kai commented. Keigo's face darkened at the comment and nodded grudgingly, as if it really hurt him to admit it.

"My work's died down... a lot." Keigo looked at Kai accusingly. "And I think it's because of your Diva."

"She ain't mine." Kai said automatically, then back-pedalled, hearing what Keigo was saying. "What? How's it Ray's fault?"

"She's black-listing me, I think." Keigo shook his head. "Probably afraid of getting too close to me. I think she's afraid of falling for me, you know, what with my good looks and all."

Kai rolled his eyes, knowing that Keigo was being absolutely serious and also knowing that his assumption was absolutely NOT true. Ray only had eyes for one person and the blonde was as sure of that fact as he was sure that the sky was blue.

"I need to talk to her." Keigo turned to Kai. "I know you're friends with her. I gotta explain to her that her fear of me is preventing us from really working together."

Kai shook his head, feeling oddly proprietory towards the Diva. "Ray doesn't see just anyone."

"But she will see you." Keigo pointed out. "You're like, a safe zone for her or something."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Kai didn't know how, but he got that he was being made fun.

"Come on, buddy. Just help me out." Keigo, who never begged, sounded very much like he was begging. "You're my friend, right? Just do this for me!"

Kai looked at Keigo who tried to look nonchalent for Kai knew, in this industry, being black-listed meant your career was dead in the water. The blonde let out a sigh and took out his cellphone.

"Tonight, then. Only if Ray can make it. We can meet at that cafe across from the studio." Kai started typing away. Keigo watched as the blonde sent the mail. Within a couple of seconds, Ray had replied saying that she would love to meet up with Kai and Keigo for coffee. The blonde slightly regretted Ray's quick reply. Kai had hoped maybe she would take an hour or so... long enough so Keigo wasn't looking over his should to check and Kai could go back to the recording studio and 'forget' to look at his phone til way past the meeting time.

"Awesome man, just awesome." Keigo watched Kai send off another email to confirm, then pulled out a five-thousand yen bill and slipped it into the vending machine. "Get whatever you want, my treat. I'll see you tonight."

Kai felt ... dirty as he made his selection of drinks and nodded distractedly when Keigo slapped him on the back and walked off. Kai should'vetaken another look at Keigo, though, because the handsome young man walking away had a smirking sneer on his face that made him look positively evil.

* * *

endnote: ...getting the ball rolllllling.


	25. Chapter 25

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 25

author's note: woooo!

it's been a while since I've given language notes, but here you go:

happi - (from wiki) a traditional Japanese straight-sleeved coat usually made of indigo or brown cotton and imprinted with a distinctive mon (crest)

wota - otaku. if you don't know... then you just need to look it up.

wotagei - the dance of the otaku. youtube it and you'll see what I mean

* * *

"Tiger! Fire! Cyber! Fiber! Diver! Viber! Ja jaa!"

Kuu waved enthusiastically at the girl in a happi decorated with the names of Persona's members with words like 'fighting!' and 'Number ONE!' doing wotagei in the crowd, despite the audience around the wota sort of shunning her. Persona was singing '3 Seconds' to a crowd of mainly girls, all of them screaming excitedly, but none of them as loud as the wota. After the performance and the boys were cooling down backstage, Kuu kept on peeking back out.

"Man, that was awesome! That wotagei was so awesome!" Kuu yammered away. "Did you see her? She totally did Romeo! And OAD!"

"She annoyed the hell out of the fans around her." Kai pointed out wryly.

"Hey, wotagei takes courage! I admire her spirit!" Kuu defended the wota fan. "And female wotas are as rare as unicorns! We have unicorns in our midst!"

"She's also the head of your official fanclub and helped us organize this secret meet." Saeko suddenly appeared and the three jumped a bit in fear. "So show some appreciation."

"We have a fanclub?" Riku was stunned.

"She's the head?" Kai gaped. Kuu pushed Kai a bit, annoyed with the blonde.

"So? What's wrong with her being the head?" Kuu was indignant. Being part of the lolita community meant that she rubbed elbows with the otaku community quite a bit. Hinata had quite a soft spot for them since they were always very nice to her.

Kai put his hands up in surrender. "Nothing's wrong! I'm just... surprised by the whole thing. Not that she SPECIFICALLY is what I'm surprised about, but just, a fan club... stop glaring at me, I really didn't mean it like that."

"Hmph." Kuu crossed his arms, not all too convinced.

"No fighting, boys." Marilyn tsked. "Okay, we've set up a table for the handshake portion of this little publicity stunt..."

This 'secret' meet-and-greet with the fans wasn't that secret at all. Marilyn had contacted the head of their fanclub and told her to spread the word. The wota was pretty connected and had managed to contact a lot of other well-connected people. This event had depended solely on the fans to spread the news and the turn-out today, well, Saeko could see that Persona was hugely popular. The small venue, a small outdoor theatre they had booked, was crammed with people. Security had to stop more people from coming in because it was becoming a safety hazard. Even then, there was a huge crowd outside the area, waiting to get a glimpse of the stars.

"It's all because of Ruby-san and the Three Sisters drama." Marilyn was pleased. "With the first episode of the Okinawa story-arc out, there's already a lot of love for the characters you play!"

"Excuse me, everything's been set up." Sayaka ducked into the small tent set up for the management and informed them. "Whenever you're ready."

"Alright, one more drink and lets go!" Marilyn urged the boys to get some more liquids in them before shooing them out. Loud screaming from the fans heralded their reappearance, with the wota girl at the front of the line-up for handshakes, looking at them with stars in her eyes.

"Try to go fast, there's a long line-up and we want to try to get to everyone before our time at this venue is up." Saeko whispered to the boys. "But be gracious! Smile!"

The boys all smiled at their fans and the screams grew louder. There were settled behind a table so there was a physical boundary for the fans, making Sae and Sayaka's job a lot easier. There were other security personnel around, but Sae and Sayaka were Persona's personal bodyguards and took their jobs seriously.

Riku was first in line for handshakes, then Kai, then at the end, Kuu. The first one to go up to Riku was the head of their fan club and she approached shyly, her face blood-red.

"Um... uh... uh..." She held out her hand.

"What's your name?" Riku smiled and didn't make a face even though the girl's hand was really sweaty. The girl seemed to realize her hand was disgusting and her expression changed to one of mortification.

"S-S-Sashihara R-Rino." Rino said weakly. "Y-Y-You're-"

"I'm Riku." Riku nodded, speaking slowly so as not to upset the girl. "It's very nice to meet you. And thank you so much for everything. We know what you've been doing and we appreciate it a lot. Thank you for your support."

Sashihara was so overwhelmed, all she could do was bow, her forehead touching Riku's hand.

"Thank you, thank you..." Sashihara babbled as Sae gently told her to move along. The next person Sashihara shook hands with was the ever-eloquent Kai. The blonde gave the timid girl a wry smile.

"So you're the head of our fanclub, eh?"

Rino had the sense to wipe her hands on her pants before shaking hands with Kai. Kai did one, better, reaching over the table to squeeze Rino's shoulder.

"Thanks, Sashi. This couldn't have happened without you." Kai said seriously.

Sashihara Rino couldn't decide whether to burst into tears or melt and decided to do both at the same time. "Kai-san!"

"Chotto, chotto, chotto!" Kai patted Rino's shoulder awkwardly now. "No tears or else Kuu's gonna think I'm bullying you. And call me Kai."

"Kai...-san!" Rino just couldn't drop the -san. It was Kai! One of the gods of Persona! The next guy she went up to beamed at her and it was literally like looking at the sun. Kuu's smile was just so bright! Grasping her hands with both of his own, Kuu pumped it up and down not knowing he was causing Sashihara's brain to explode.

"You were awesome, just awesome!" Kuu expounded. "I can't believe you knew the whole mix!"

"You... know the wota mix?" Rino was in awe. She always knew there was something special about Kuu!

"Of course!" Kuu grinned at Rino. "And you did it perfectly. I'm glad I have fans like you, Rins. Can I call you Rins?"

"You can call me whatever you want, Kuu-sama!" Sashihara exclaimed.

"Thank you for everything." Kuu's words were warm and full of feeling. "Really, thank you."

"Excuse me, Kuu, ma'am." Sayaka addressed the both of them. "We have to keep the line moving..."

The people in line were glaring at Rino. She was taking forever!

"See you around?" Kuu asked hopefully. Sashihara could only manage to nod, she was too choked up. Her idols! They knew who she was!

The boys found that most of their fans were girls, or young guys who thought they were really cool. To these guys, Persona would grin at them and act manlier, appeal to the image their fans had of them. Kuu would give these guys strange advice and Kai would just shake his head and chuckle.

"Hey, you got the time, bro?" Kai asked one young male fan who... sort of looked like Kai, really, with dyed hair and everything.

"Yeah, sure, sure man!" The fan fumbled for his phone and held it out. "It's like 6ish. You got somewhere to be?"

Kai's thoughts strayed to Ray. It was almost time to meet but Kai couldn't even send off a mail to Ray... "Just hungry, man. Was wondering when dinner was."

"I getcha." The blonde fan chuckled, his laugh sounding very much like Kai's. It seemed this fan had modelled himself after the shortest Persona member. Kai shook the fan's hand and moved on to the next fan, trying to not let impatience show on his face.

"Ummm..." Riku was trying not to look down the obviously low cut shirt of a female fan. She was... hot. Really hot. But annoyingly so. Asahi was slightly jealous at how well put-together this woman seemed.

"It's a PLEASURE to meet you." The woman batted her eyelashes at Riku and the tallest member of Persona tried not to let an annoyed grimace show on his face. Instead, he pasted on a generic smile.

"Nice to meet you too." Riku took her hand carefully in his, jumped a bit when she squeezed it softly. How could someone squeezing your hand feel so... dirty?

"THANKYOUFORYOURSUPPORT!" Riku squeaked out as the woman's thumb rubbed circle patterns on the back of Riku's hand. When she left, casting Riku a lustful look, she also left a piece of paper in Riku's hand.

"Give me that." Sae muttered. She reached over and grabbed the scrap of paper out of Riku's hand, giving the woman who had passed it to Riku a scathing look before throwing it in the garbage. A phone number. Typical. Kai and Kuu also received the same treatment and while Kai looked uncomfortable, Kuu was playing the game quite well, responding to the woman's advances.

"She's nice!" Kuu beamed at Kai, having completely misunderstood the woman. Kai shook his head, having heard most of the conversation while some of the fans that were listening in chuckled at Kuu's innocence. The woman had asked about Kuu's performance in bed and Kuu had replied blithely, unaware of what the woman had of the fans were about the same-except for the few odd exceptions-asking the same questions, thanking them in their own special way. Persona knew that there were presents left for them in a box that Saeko and Marilyn would collect later, and they were all quite eager to check those out ASAP.

"Thank you for your time!" Finally, they had stopped people from coming up, the groan from the crowd was thunderous. There was still plenty of people that had yet to shake hands with Persona!

"Thank you for coming out to this event, everyone!" Kuu waved to the crowd and they waved back enthusiastically, suddenly forgetting their disappointment as Kuu grinned at Persona's fans. Girls screamed out Kuu's name, vying for his attention. "Thank you!"

"KUU, WE LOVE YOU! YOU'RE SO COOL!" The scream from a group of well-organized fans reached the boy's ear. He noticed Sashihara in the mix and gave the group a wink. There was frenzied screaming and Kuu could see some fainters.

"Thank you EVERYONE!" Kai shouted out. The roar changed to high-pitched squeals and articles of clothing were thrown on stage. Catching one quizzically, Kai tried not to freak out as he realized they were... bras and panties. Ew.

"We hope to see you again at our next event!" Riku shouted out and the calls for Persona sounded like... a gigantic roaring tsunami. It washed over the three young idols, who enthusiastically embraced the love the crowd was showing.

As they were hustled away, the crowd continued calling for them, but one look from Saeko told the boys that they didn't have time to prolong their meeting with their fans. The three regretfully left the stage and were hustled into a van to head to their next thing.

"What's our next thing?" Riku asked curiously.

"You three are having dinner." Saeko turned from her place in the front passenger seat to smile at them. Sayaka was driving and Sae sat in the back with Marilyn and the boys. The three guys were changing into clothes that were a bit more comfortable. They had been sweating in their jackets and shirts, so those came off until they were only in their binding tops. Marilyn passed them some clean shirts. Kai was kicking off his boots-which had hidden inserts inside to make him a bit taller-to tug on his beat-up adidas'.

"You three are going out to dinner with Katsuyuki-san."

"What?" They blinked at their manager while slipping into their tops. Kuu wore a light aqua t-shirt and slipped his comfortable zip-up white hoodie on. Like Kai, he had brought a change of shoes, a pair of canvas slip-ons. Kai was finishing buttoning up his collar-less red shirt, before slipping into his leather jacket. All the boys tried to layer up a bit, since their physique was still girl-ish despite the padding in the binding top. Jackets and sweaters helped cover for the fact that their shoulders were quite slim.

"Yes, he was quite insistent." Saeko drawled out as all eyes, except Sayaka's, turned to Riku slyly as he finished buttoning up a nice casual shirt and threw on a tan-coloured jacket.

"What?" Riku was blushing hotly. "Stop looking at me like that, guys!"

"Ooooo! Katsuyuki-san!" Kai teased.

Kuu nodded, covering his mouth to stiffle the giggles. "Katsuyuki-san's sooooo gaaaaaay for Rikuuuuu!"

"He wants to make babies with Riku!" Sae added, grinning at Riku. "Lots and lots of babies!"

Sayaka didn't say anything, but her grin reflected in the rearview mirror told Riku the usually stoic bodyguard was laughing at him too!

"Guys, shut upppp!" Riku screeched. They arrived at the restaurant they were going to be at in no time at all, all of them heading into the restaurant to meet with the young director. Katsuyuki-san was sitting there playing with a candle, having been there for a very long time. When he heard Kuu call out to him, he accidentally knocked the candle over.

"Shit!" Katsuyuki stood up quickly as the tablecloth caught fire and threw the contents of his glass of water on the flames. The boys and their entourage arrived, grinning in amusement at the smoking table and Katsuyuki's flustered face.

"Well, Katsuyuki-san. You boys have fun." Saeko grinned and bowed to the young director.

"What-you're not staying?" Persona's turned to look at Saeko.

"No, Marilyn and I are taking a short break." Saeko declared. Her eyes pierced the boys. "BEHAVE."

The three in question gulped and nodded timidly, knowing that they would be in a world of hurt if they didn't obey. Sae and Sayaka bowed to the manager and her secretary as they left, then moved away from the table to stand guard a discreet distance away.

"Please, sit." Katsuyuki-san motioned to the seats. The boys all took their seat, shooting glances at each other. In a situation like this, what were they supposed to do?

"So... how was your event?" Katsuyuki asked them politely, his eyes mainly on Riku.

"It went pretty well," Riku said diplomatically. "We didn't we had so many fans-"

"Or a fan club!" Kuu added enthusiastically. "The head of our fanclub is so amazing!"

Conversation slowly got started, with Katsuyuki mainly posing all his questions to Riku, while the de-facto leader would answer and then try to draw his bandmates into the conversation. It was while everybody had started talking about Persona's CD that Kai took the opportunity to check his cellphone and saw that he had a message from Keigo.

_Dude, we cancelled. saw Ray and she said she was busy. _

Kai let out a little breath of relief at Keigo's message. Kai had been a bit worried since he was already kind of late to their little coffee date. And for some reason, the thought of Ray and Keigo alone together just didn't sit too well with him. The waiter came over to take their orders quickly, then left them to their own devices.

"Are you guys having any trouble adjusting to idol life?" Katsuyuki asked, genuinely interested. Usually, he didn't care too much. These idols all worked for him, under his label. They did well or they did not... but Katsuyuki was slightly invested in this group for some reason. They made him feel... good.

"We're doing alright." Kai shrugged, while taking off his jacket and throwing it over the back of his chair. It was hot. "It's just a lot of work. But we're getting used to it."

"Yeah!" Kuu nodded enthusiastically. "I love singing! And we're doing really well with our songs. Riku's yet to write one of his own yet, though..."

"What? What do you mean?" Katsuyuki looked over at Riku with interest as the boy scowled.

"Well, Kuu started this first... He wrote one song tht was purely just Kuu, it's called 'Water'. Saeko let us have free reign on the creation of one song when his turned out so well. 'Water' has more of an R&B feel to it, most of the bass is, surprisingly not drums or the bass guitar, we're using a contrabass."

"No synthesizers or the usual instruments used in popular music nowadays." Kuu leaned forward excitedly, always happy to talk about 'Water'. "I've decided to go pure strings and piano on this."

"Kuu's voice is central in this song and we're sort of back-up." Kai grinned. "It's actually worked out quite well."

"What about your song, Kai?" Katsuyuki asked, interested.

"His song is ROCKIN'." Riku extolled. Kai grinned a bit at the praise. "He had this tune stuck in his head on the way back from Okinawa and Kuu helped him write down the notes. Our crew helped us expand on it and build the song into this MONSTER. Candy's drumming is crazy on this track! Kai's song has the instrumentals down already, a bit of the lyrics but no title."

"It's an angry song." Kuu leaned in to whisper to Katsuyuki. Kai narrowed his eyes at Kuu. It wasn't an angry song! The music was just... fast-paced.

Katsuyuki nodded, pleased that Persona was fitting in and working well.

"What about you, Riku?" Katsuyuki asked. "Do you have a song yet?"

"Still searching for my muse." Riku shrugged, grinning.

"But Riku's great." Kuu took a sip of water. "Without him, I don't think our music would be as organized. Riku gives really good directions."

"Hear, hear!" Kai raised his own glass of water, agreeing with Kuu.

"Guys," Riku grinned charmingly at the compliments. It was always nice to know that he was appreciated.

As their appetizers, soups and salads came; Kai's phone started ringing, playing Persona's '3 Seconds' song.

"Sorry," Kai slipped his phone out of his pocket and hung up without even looking at the caller id. The blonde attempted to start eating his tiny salad when his phone rang again, insistantly.

"Sorry, sorry," The blonde apologized again, taking out his phone. "I'll just take this..."

Kai flipped his phone open, irritated at whoever was on the other end.

"Moshi-"

"Kai!" Hiro's voice interrupted him. "Yo, is Ray with you?"

Kai frowned. "No... I'm out with Kuu and Riku. We're having dinner with Katsuyuki-san. What's up?"

"She's not with you?" Hiro's voice was worried. "Ray gave us the slip. Masa sorta read your message to her over her shoulder when you sent it... he said you had asked her out for coffee?"

"With a friend." Kai pushed away from the table, smiling apologetically at the people he was eating with. "But I'm not with her right now... and we cancelled this coffee get-together."

Kai walked away from the table, Sae followed after the young man.

"Damn it. And she turned off her phone." Hiro cursed. "We're gonna get in so much shit... just in case she's there, can you tell me where you were gonna meet her?"

"Sure," Kai gave the information readily. Before Hiro could hang up, Kai stopped the man. "Hey... could you call me back and tell me whether you find her or not?"

"Sure, man."

Kai went back to the table and shook his head to his friends' silent inquiries. Kuu and Riku shrugged, knowing that it was best to leave well enough alone. Conversation continued flowing easily, but Kai looked significantly ill at ease. Trying to not seem rude, he took out his phone, keeping it under table and typed out a message to Ray.

_where are you_

Ray's reply time was pretty quick, especially if she wasn't doing anything so Kai felt justified to be more than a little bit worried when there was no immediate answer. Ten minutes later, Kai's phone rang and he jumped up to take it away from the table.

"Ray?"

"No, it's me." Hiro didn't sound happy at all. "I went to the coffee place. They said there was some tall girl there meeting with some guy. They had a coffee than left together. I'm not sure if that was Ray... has she called you?"

"No." Kai's heart was beating furiously now. Someone? Who? Where the hell could the Diva have gone? "I mailed her but there was no reply. Can you guys find her?"

"We're trying. She does this pretty often, sorry if we're freaking you out." Hiro blew out a breath in frustration. "Really, nowadays she's been so much better with you around. Usually she just sneaks off to try to see you."

"So where is she?" Kai was trying to calm himself down... why was he so worked up over this... And... he couldn't help suspecting that Keigo had a hand in Ray's disappearance.

"I dunno. Don't worry, Ray's probably sitting pretty somewhere laughing it up." Hiro replied drolly. "Just enjoy yourself, man. If you see her, give us a call and we'll do the same."

Kai was not at all reassured. Making up his mind, he went back to the table to say good-bye.

"Sorry," Kai smiled at Katsuyuki-san. "I have to go do something. It's a bit of an emergency."

"Where are you going?" Riku asked. Kai leaned over to Riku and whispered to the other man, who nodded grudgingly.

"Okay, but just call us when you're done. We can go back home together." Riku waved good-bye to Kai who practically ran out of the restaurant, Sae following close behind.

"He's still working?" Katsuyuki was impressed by Kai's work ethics. Riku smiled weakly.

"More like he's responsible for something he really doesn't want to be responsible for and he has to go deal with it." Riku explained mysteriously.

"Oh, his jacket!" Kuu got up and grabbed Kai's leather jacket, running out after the blonde with Sayaka quickly following after him.

"Kai!" Kuu caught Kai just as he was about to jump into a taxi with Sae.

"Yo." Kai paused to look at his friend anxiously. He had to go!

"Here!" Kuu threw the jacket into the car. Kai nodded his thanks and shut the door, calling out directions to the taxi driver. Kuu watched the taxi pull away and was about to head back in... when he suddenly saw Sashihara Rino inside a convenience store across the street.

"Rins!" Kuu grinned excitedly. He was about to head over when someone pulled him back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sayaka raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"Aw, I'm just going across the street to the convenience store." Kuu whined. "Come on, nobody's really looking for ME."

"You're still an idol. And a pretty popular one at that!" Sayaka leaned forward to hiss. "What if you get jumped by crazy fans?"

"I'll be fine. You should watch Riku." Kuu pushed Sayaka back towards the restaurant. "Go on! I'll be back in a few!"

Then Kuu started walking away, putting Sayaka in a bind. It was either go after Kuu who had significantly less risk, or stay with Riku who had the Yakuza on his heels. She and Sae had been told to always keep an eye on Riku and Kai, since the two were in the greatest danger with dangerous people looking for them.

"Damn it, Kuu." Sayaka jogged towards the young man and passed him her large sunglasses. "Sunglasses on, hood up. Come back as soon as possible."

Kuu nodded, pulling up his hood and wearing the sunglasses, then he was gone, heading towards the convenience store. Sayaka watched until he had entered the store before turning back, relunctantly inside. She bet that Ray's bodyguards, known as the best in the industry, never had problems like this!

Kuu, meanwhile, had skipped into the store and looking around, quickly located Sashihara Rino standing in front of the magazines. She was flipping through an idol magazine that had Persona featured on the cover, still in her Persona happi. Kuu wandered over next to her, reading over her shoulder. Rino didn't notice a thing and continued flipping through the magazine happily for a couple more minutes before she sighed and put the magazine back on the rack.

"You're not going to buy it?" Kuu asked curiously.

"No," Rino answered, still in a pleasant Persona-induced haze. "I have three copies already and I think my parents'll really kill me if I buy another copy."

"Well, who's your favourite member?" Kuu continued asking gleefully, wondering when Sashihara would turn around.

"Well, it's hard to choose but I guess it would have to be Kuu," Rino finally turned to face whoever was speaking to her. "He's really nice in real life and he's so genuine in... person... and... he's..."

Rino's brain was trying desperately to process what was in front of her eyes. In front of her, in sunglasses and a hoodie, was a young man. But not just any young man. Rino recognized THIS young man INSTANTLY.

"Kuu-sama?"

"One and only!" Kuu took off his sunglasses and grinned.

* * *

"He ran off too?" Riku was slightly irritated as Sayaka reported back to Riku. The tall bodyguard had the decency to look ashamed.

"I... couldn't stop him short from dragging him back. I apologize." Sayaka apologized. If there was one thing in her training that was lacking, it was that she wasn't very good at putting her foot down. She never wanted to take away someone's freedom. Sayaka had always been under the impression that her job gave her the opportunity to give the people she protected MORE freedom.

"You don't have to apologize, just," Riku winced, thinking of what would happen to all three of them if shachou found out. "Don't tell shachou. Or Marilyn. They would kill us."

"Do you have problems with Saeko-san?" Katsuyuki asked, not liking what he was hearing at all. Was Riku's management bullying him? Was there any way he could help? "Can I help?"

"Oh, no, no. She's great." Riku said truthfully as Sayaka backed away so she could stay close, but not hover over them. "She's just strict with us. And she does worry about us a lot, especially Kai and Kuu, since they wander off a lot. Hold on, I'm just going to pop Kuu a message..."

Riku's fingers flew across his keypad, his message short and succinct.

_WHERE ARE YOU_

Within seconds, Kuu had replied.

_Convenience store! I bumpd into someone so we'r gonna go for yakitori have fun with katsuuyuuki-ssan! I'll bee back real soon, don't leave without me_

"That brat!" Riku growled and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. "Honestly..."

"Well, we don't need them to have a good time!" Katsuyuki-san was actually quite happy about this turn of events. It was exactly what he wanted from the very beginning! Just him and Riku, on a nice date-dinner. Just dinner. Between friends. This definitely was NOT a date!

"How was Okinawa?" To distract himself from his runaway thoughts, Katsuyuki immediately changed subjects.

"Okinawa?" The thing that stood out most in Riku's head was one, Oshima Yuko.

_"Kissy-kissy, Nyan-nyan! I. Love. YOU!"_ A little image of a pixie-like Yuko with her trademark dimpled smile appeared in Riku's head and the young man's eye twitched.

"Oshima Yuko." Riku almost snarled. "Tricked me into dating her for a time."

"What?" Katsuyuki leaned forward, incensed. Someone had been dating his Riku? Oshima Yuko? He tried his hardest to remember which actress in Three Sisters was Oshima Yuko, finally settling on dimples-girl. DIMPLES. His eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

"Basically she got me drunk," Riku muttered, feeling that it was okay to tell Katsuyuki-san just a little bit about his situation in Okinawa. Hopefully, he'd be a little bit more sympathetic. It was better than Riku expected as Katsuyuki slammed a fist down on the table at the end of Riku's censored re-telling.

"THAT FIEND!"

"I know, right?" Riku nodded angrily. "She TOTALLY took advantage of me!"

"I'll have my people ERASE her from the entertainment world!" Katsuyuki seethed. Riku started in alarm. That would NOT be good!

"Nonononono! Don't do that!" Riku placed a hand on Katsuyuki's arm, successfully stunning the man in mid-rant. "We cleared up our differences. We're still friends and if anything bad happened to her... I wouldn't want that."

Thinking of Yuko's stupid face and her big dimply grin made Riku smile a bit in exasperation at the thought of the insufferable actress. "She's my... friend. Even if she has... ideas about us. Which are completely untrue."

Katsuyuki nodded stiffly, withdrawing his arm from Riku. That whole appendage felt numb, like Riku had shocked him with electricity just by touching his arm. Katsuyuki-san grabbed his glass of water and gulped down the whole glass, trying to cool his hot face.

"But since it's just the two of us," Riku caught the attention of a waiter with a look. "Maybe we can get the kitchen to keep Kai and Kuu's food in the oven?"

"Yeah, of course." Katsuyuki told the waiter to do just as Riku suggested. The immaculately dressed waiter also filled Katsuyuki's water glass again.

"Again, I'm so sorry that they've run off-"

"No!" Katsuyuki blurted out, leaning forward. "I'm glad that I get some time alone with you. Because... I... enjoy your company."

Both young men were blushing at what Katsuyuki said.

"Well..." Riku blushed. He was a young man! Why was he acting like a girl? It was unprofessional! But... he did like Katsuyuki-san. The young director was successful, rich and handsome. And Katsuyuki-san seemed genuinely interested in him...

"Katsuyuki-san-"

"Riku-"

They both stopped and blushed again. Sayaka watched the scene apprehensively, shaking her head. Persona was creating drama for themselves left and right! And really, she did NOT know the director of Sunny Music was a big gay-mo!

"You can call me Ryouga." Katsuyuki broke the silence. "When we're like this in private, alright?"

Riku smiled at Katsuyuki-san, touched that the director had asked Riku to use his first name. "Ryouga-san."

"Just Ryouga is fine." Katsuyuki felt himself glow a bit at how his name sounded rolling off Riku's tongue. "And... can I call you by your real name?"

Riku froze, suddenly panicked. What WAS his real name? He remembered Saeko and Marilyn had given him one, but he totally forgot-

"Just call me Riku, really." Riku grinned nervously. "I'm, uh, used to my stage name, actually. I actually find it hard to answer to my real name nowadays, so I don't use it. Even my FAMILY calls me Riku! Hahahaha! Ha ha..."

"Yeah, you know, a lot of idols tell me that too." Katsuyuki mused, taking Riku's explanation quite well. "Being an idol, you guys create a new identity for yourselves... it's not necessarily a bad thing, but I feel like the real person gets lost in the process some times."

"Really?" Riku blinked. Was this a common occurence?  
Katsuyuki took a sip of water. "Yeah. It's not usually a bad thing, but... lets take you for example."

Riku sat up straighter as Katsuyuki studied him carefully. The young director didn't get to where he was just because of his father; the elder Katsuyuki had seen that his son had an eye for young talent, even when he was younger. Unknown to Ryouga, his father had picked idols back in the old days by asking his son about them. If Ryouga seemed disinterested, the elder Katsuyuki wouldn't sign the idols.

"I'm happy that Saeko-san is your manager." Ryouga said after a brief study of Riku.

The young idol blinked. "Why?"

"You'd get eaten alive if you had any other manager." Ryouga's thoughts wandered to Sarukawa Keiji, Ray's manager. Ray was in a good place because she knew how to deal with Sarukawa, but these boys were too naive. "She's managed to nuture you guys pretty well, keeping all your quirks. That's what's important, I feel. To make sure you guys stand out from every other idol around."

"We stand out?" Riku asked subconsciously. How?

"You guys are genuine." Ryouga smirked at Riku, calming the 'boy's fears. "Most managers try to push their talents into a cookie-cutter mold. All the idols that come out of some agencies that shall-not-be-named, are the same. Same kind of hairstyle, same kind of attitude... but not you three. Your voices and your personalities are all very apparently distinct. Kai is the bad boy. Kuu is the playboy. You, you are the leader."

"Kuu's the playboy?" Riku gaped. When did his friend get that moniker?

"Of course. He has a way with the ladies. Not that Kai and you don't, it's just he's... really smooth, you know? It's like he doesn't feel at all like girls could be threatened by him and he's entirely unthreatening. THAT'S how he gets them." Katsuyuki settled into his professional role unconsciously. "Kai, brash and passionate. He'll do whatever the hell he wants, as he's shown so many times. I heard about his first meeting with the Diva," Katsuyuki chuckled, remembering how his jaw had fallen to his chest as someone passed him that little bit of gossip. "And now, I heard that they're... friends."

Riku grinned a bit and held up a finger to his lips. "Kai... doesn't seem to dislike Ray-san, but he doesn't know what to do about all the attention she's showing him."

"It's surprising that Ray is so... attached to Kai." Katsuyuki lowered his voice, both men grinning like mischeivous schoolboys. "She doesn't really have any friends, you know."

"Ray-san?"

"The Diva is notoriously private." Katsuyuki-san shrugged. He had tried hitting on Ray when they had first met, but the woman had firmly and expertly rebuffed him. He hadn't known he had been 'friended' until he left her presence. "Since I've known her, since she's started in the industry... honestly, people respect her. She's a damned powerhouse, she's a veritable gold mine. She's wildly popular but her image is completely different from who she is, really."

"Huh." Riku sat back in his chair. "Well, what's your opinion of her?"

Katsuyuki shrugged. "She's Ray. She's the charismatic Diva and that's all she's ever shown the world. I got the feeling that she didn't want me to dig deeper and I'd rather not offend the woman, really. People don't get far when they get on Ray's bad side."

Katsuyuki had personally seen some young idol's career die or take a turn for the worse when it seemed like they wanted to compete with Ray. It might not even be Ray's fault... Katsuyuki kind of suspected that Sarukawa might have a hand in stomping out the competition but he had no proof, so...

"I'm just glad you guys are on her good side, though." Ryouga said honestly. He wanted Riku to stay around, for as long as possible. Beyond all the confusing feelings, the young director of Sunny Music was sure of one thing: with Riku around, he felt really good.

Riku shrugged. "We try our best not to offend the Diva. She's actually easy to deal with, as long as we throw Kai at her."

"I don't know what's going on with your friend and the Diva, but tell Kai to try and keep it hidden and if there are developments and they want to come out, they need to be sure to inform Sarukawa-san and Saeko-san. Relationships like these are always like a minefield: you don't know how to navigate it and all of it might just blow up in your face." Katsuyuki said seriously.

"We're trying our best. Kai doesn't really want this. And I'm hoping it's not our association with Ray that'll define us as a group-"

"You guys are doing great." Ryouga assured the young idol. "A big part of that is because you three seem pretty close. Some idol groups don't last long because the chemistry between members isn't exactly right. But you three fit together really well. Like brothers."

"They're my... best friends, I guess." Riku's ears heated up bashfully.

"Just friends, right?" Katsuyuki suddenly felt anxious. What if they were MORE THAN FRIENDS? But no, no, Riku wasn't gay. That thought, however, depressed Katsuyuki.

"Good friends." Riku replied, nodding his head. "With this whole Persona thing, I couldn't have done it alone. Couldn't have done it without them."

"I'm glad the industry hasn't changed you guys." Katsuyuki sat back as the waiter finally came with their food. "A lot of people change as soon as they come in. For the worse, always for the worse. But you guys are still innocent. I guess I have to thank Saeko-san and Marilyn-san for that."

Riku gave Katsuyuki-san a confused smile, unsure if them being innocent was a good or bad thing and decided to instead change the subject. "What about you, Katsuyuki-san? Have you changed?"

"It's Ryouga," Katsuyuki reminded gently. He wanted Riku to use his first name. "And... I guess I have. I party a lot, I drink a lot more. It wasn't until I officially took the position as director that I started going to Fast Club more frequently."

Riku's scowl at the mention of the club made Katsuyuki quickly try to add to that. "But I haven't been going as often, really, just once in a blue moon when I have people I need to take out... you didn't like that place much, huh?"

Riku tried to lie, but finally, he settled on a sheepish shake of his head. Ryouga sighed.

"I'm sorry for taking you there."

"No," Riku protested, disliking the depressed look on Katsuyuki-san's face. "It was an experience. It's just that we've never been in a club like that-"

"I'll stop going to Fast Club, i-if you want." Katsuyuki-san said desperately, wanting to please Riku. "Does it bother you?"

"It's none of my business, really, what you do-"

"But I care about your opinion." Ryouga blurted out, before blushing and looking down at his food. Riku, not knowing why, was red-faced also.

"Um... lets eat." Katsuyuki desperately found another subject. He didn't want it to be awkward, he didn't want it to be awkward...

"Sure, um," Riku raised his glass to Ryouga tentatively. "Thank you for looking out for us, by the way. You're really kind, Ka-Ryouga-san."

Katsuyuki Ryouga had been called many things, but being 'really kind'... well, this felt like the best compliment he had ever received.

"Thank you. And, just Ryouga." Ryouga raised his glass and clinked it lightly against Riku's, nervously wondering if he should ask his next question. "Ano..."

"Yes?"

"Can we..." Ryouga was aware that his palms were sweaty. "I-I, um. I... like hanging around you. Like, in a non-professional setting. When I told you before about only having sycophants and two-faced people around me... I want to change that. I want to have someone like you by my side. Could we possibly, well... could we be friends?"

"I don't know," Riku's first words made Ryouga's face fall, but the next words picked him back up significantly. "I was under the impression we were already friends."

The smile on Ryouga's face was heartbreaking as he raised his glass and clinked it lightly against Riku's glass.

"To friends, then." Ryouga tried to ignore the nagging feeling at the back of his head that told him that he didn't just want to be friends... but he pushed those thoughts away. He wasn't gay. he just liked hanging around Riku. Really REALLY liked hanging around Riku.

* * *

endnote: Kuu and Kai have run off! Where are they and what are they doing? Do you know? Cuz I DO NOT! Wheeeeee!


	26. Chapter 26

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 26

author's notes: took a while to get this one out.

* * *

"Rins, stop crying." Kuu patted Sashihara Rino on the back kindly. The wota was boo-hooing into her hands, completely overwhelmed with the presence of one of her idols.

"I... can't... help it!" Rino sobbed happily as her idol looked on with such a gentle expression on his face. He handed her a stick of yakitori and, still crying, Sashihara ate it with relish. When Rino had burst into tears at the convenience store, Kuu had felt bad and invited her to eat since in his mind, food made EVERYONE happier! So they had moved on to a small yakitori shop. The elderly couple at the charcoal grill left the two alone, assuming wrongly that they were having a lovers' spat.

"I love yakitori!" Sashihara continued crying, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Unfortunately, it was smearing her eye make-up and was making her look like a panda. Kuu looked around, seeing some napkins, he quickly started dabbing at Rino's cheeks. That only made the girl blubber some more.

"I really... really like you, Kuu-sama!" Rino ate her yakitori with relish.

"Thank you." Kuu was honestly touched by Rino's words. "I'm really happy."

"I'm really happy too!" Rino sobbed. Kuu let the girl cry in peace as he ate a stick of chicken thoughtfully. They sat there in silence as Rino stuffed her face, trying to frantically think of what to say to her idol. Words weren't coming to her like they normally did... normally, Sashihara had a million and one things to say! She had thought of what she was going to say if ever this moment came, but all the preparations she had made were for nothing because she just couldn't seem to get the words out.

Thankfully, Kuu already had questions of his own.

"Rins... why do you like me?" Kuu leaned forward, his hands steepled in front of him. "I'm just curious, you know?"

Kuu was indeed, quite curious. What made people like him as Kuu? What was he doing differently? ...what made Kuu so different from Hinata?

"You make me feel good." Sashihara blurted out. "I mean, when things are bad and I'm stressing about stupid things like school and my parents and stuff. It makes me happy that you and Persona are here. It's like, when I listen to your music, or see you guys on TV, everything is better."

Kuu grinned, incredibly touched by Rino's words. This was what he was aiming for. He wanted to be there, supporting his fans like they supported him. He was unbelievably happy at Sashihara's awkward, heartfelt words.

"I especially liked watching you and Mariko-sama's roles in Three Sisters." Rino continued on, not noticing Kuu's smile change into a grimace at the mention of Mariko. "And I could really see that you and Mariko-sama have really good chemistry-"

"Hardly." Kuu snorted and tried not to roll his eyes. "She's a pain."

Rino chuckled. "That's exactly what your character in Three Sisters would say! And you can't fool me with that act, she talked about you all the time when you guys were in Okinawa!"

"What?" Kuu blinked. "Really? She did? How do you know that?"

Rino took out her cellphone and pressed a couple quick buttons. "Here, she put everything on Twitter."

"...Kuu thinks he's cool when he's really not..." Kuu read aloud, eyebrow twitching a bit. There was also several unflattering shots of Kuu attached to these posts; shots of him in mid-yawn or shots at weird angles that made him look like he had a double-chin. "...dresses like an old man-I. WILL. KILL. HER."

Rino just giggled, not knowing that Kuu was serious.

"Well, I know Mariko-sama is joking, but-but-" Sashihara wiped her lips with a napkin. "I think you're really really cool, Kuu!"

Kuu nodded, accepting this compliment. He had no idea what made him cool, but so many people seemed to think so.

"And you're really kind to all your fans." Rino smiled a million-watt smile at Kuu. "Even to your weird otaku fans who cry when they see you."

"I have no weird otaku fans," Kuu bumped Rino gently. "Only really nice ones that I like a lot-no, don't start again, you just managed to stop crying!"

"I... can't... help it!" Rino sobbed noisily again. Kuu was everything Rino had ever thought he'd be!

"Young man!" The elderly woman manning the grill, who was around the same age as Hinata's grandma Kuu would guess, scowled at him.

"Dear-"

"Hush, you." The old woman frowned at her husband, before turning back to Kuu. "Didn't your parents teach you to not make girls cry? And who is this Mariko-sama? You should be ashamed!"

"This young lady seems like a really nice girl," The old man added in, deciding since his wife was sticking her nose into their business, he might as well. "You know, you fight one second, you hate them the next... young folk are so flighty. You just need to remember the love and don't just give up when another nice set of legs pass by."

"No... it's not like that." Rino sobbed trying to explain. "I-I-I-"

"Young lady," The old woman tsked. "Don't you know, it's NEVER the lady's fault?"

Kuu nodded, deciding to play along. "That's right. I apologize for making you cry."

"There, there. You should always remember that all couples fight and you can always apologize and forgive each other." The old woman smiled at them and handed them a plate of yakitori. "Here you go, the rest of your order!"

"Thank you," Kuu grabbed the plate of food, then grinned at Rino. "Hey, come here."

With one arm, he dragged her close and flipped out his phone to take a photo with a shocked-looking Sashihara.

"To commemorate this meeting." Kuu showed the picture ot Rino. "Here, I'll send you this picture."

Sashihara fumbled with her phone, turning on the IR function as Kuu sent the photo to her. It took just a couple of seconds, and Sashihara was staring at a photo of herself, looking stunned with a smiling Kuu. There seemed to be something else waiting to be received too...

"Your phone number and email?" Rino squeaked. Kuu placed a finger to his lips, trying not to grin goofily.

"I feel like, as head of Persona's fanclub, you should have special access to one of the members for all the latest news and gossip." Kuu shrugged nonchalently. He knew that Marilyn and Saeko would probably freak out if they knew he had just given his contact info away, but he didn't care. He wanted Sashihara to be able to contact him. In Rino, Kuu could see a little bit of Hinata. And the lolita-wota love was there.

"Let me give you mine too!" Sashihara quickly started sending her info. "I promise I won't call you all the time, I'll only call you when it's important! And-and-and, I won't email you unless something big happens! I'll-I'll only contact you if you contact me!"

"Don't tell anyone, okay?" Kuu grinned mischievously. He knew that contacting fans was sort of not allowed, since the fans get jealous of each other. But he really wanted to keep in touch with Rino. The girl reminded Kuu too much of Hinata, it was sort of like... wish-fulfillment through Rino. They sat there, talking happily until the plate full of yakitori was gone and they were looking at each other, knowing that their time together was ending.

"So... this is it." Rino looked up at Kuu bravely. It had been really fun, sitting here and talking with Kuu. She had gone through her history as a wota, the anime she liked, the idols she idolized, the games she played, the manga she read... Kuu had listened in rapt attention. Her idol had been INTERESTED in what she had wanted to say and had even been able to add to the conversation, proving to be quite knowledgeable about all things otakus liked.

"Yeah." Kuu also didn't want their time to end. While Rino thought that she had really struck gold and gotten a lot out of hanging out with Kuu, Kuu also thought this experience had given him a lot to treasure. The feelings of a fan, the gratitude, the love was like a drug.

"Hey... do you want to do something fun?" Kuu asked suddenly, a light bulb going off in his head. He could keep Rino for a little while longer!

"Fun?' Rino perked up. Kuu gave a tiny mysterious smile, paying for their meal, then motioned for Rino to follow him.

"Has the Dino-Mariko written on her blog about where she is today?" Kuu's smile was positively evil.

"She tweets about where she is all the time." Rino opened Mariko's twitter page up on her phone. "She says she's at Kichin's studio, doing a race-y magazine shoot."

"Mwahahaha..." Kuu rubbed his hands together, doing a really good impression of the classic villain. He knew where Kichin's studio was! Kuu, Riku ad Kai had all stopped by to see Kichin's finished shots for their '3 Seconds' single album cover. "Come on, Rins. We have things to do."

Kuu called a taxi and him and Rino were off to Kichin's studio arriving at the upscale neighbourhood where the photographer had his studio in no time at all. Kuu let himself in, motioning for Rino to follow him impatiently. Kuu navigated the white hallways with tasteful, erotic photos on the blank walls, expertly. Rino had trouble keeping up, gawking at the pictures on the wall. How were these so... erotic? Not all of them were naked shots but they exuded a sensuality that Rino found herself blushing at.

"Oh!" Rino paused to stare at a picture of Persona. Kuu had his arm pulled back, ready to punch someone whom the otaku guessed was probably Riku from the looks of it.

"Yeah," Kuu came back to look at the picture. "That actually hurt me a lot more than it hurt Riku. But come on."

The sound of Kichin's voice, very nicely asking Mariko to raise her head and tilt it to the left, told Kuu that he had found the right place and he was eager to see the tall model and-

"OH MY GOD MY EYES!" Kuu screeched. He had rounded the corner to stumble upon a bedroom setting with Mariko lying on the bed, obviously naked except for a sheet covering her body.

"Boy?" Kichin squinted at the young Kuu, who dipped his head respectfully while still keeping his eyes shut.

"Sir." Kuu greeted the photographer respectfully.

"You-" Mariko, who had a sheet wrapped around her body sort of like a toga, clutched it closer. "PERVERT! What are you doing here?"

"Trust me, I wouldn't look at your naked body even if you PAID me!" Kuu retorted, hands still covering his eyes. "Ew! Ew! Put some clothes on! Don't you have any sense of decency, Dino? Nobody wants to see your wrinkly butt!"

"Kuu-san?" Megumi, Mariko's manager was there overseeing the shoot. The manager also gave Sashihara a quick up-and-down, but not recognizing the girl, ignored her.

"Ohori-shachou?" Kuu refused to uncover his eyes. "Is that you?"

"Oh for the love of-" Mariko got up off the bed and stalked over to Kuu, picking up a magazine from a nearby table that Kichin-san had lying on his work table. She hefted it up and smacked it across Kuu's head.

"Ow!" Kuu put his hands down, scowling. "You suck."

"What are you doing here, Gachapin?" Mariko mirrored Kuu's scowl.

"Who you calling Gachapin, old woman? I'm here to show my fan that what we have is just hatred for each other." Kuu snarled. Kichin, about to yell at Kuu to get out of his studio, raised his camera tentatively and took a quick picture. Neither idol nor model realized he had done so as he reviewed his shot, a look of wonder erasing the frown of irritation that had been on his face.

"Oh?" Mariko raised an eyebrow and looked past Kuu to study Rino skeptically. The otaku looked like she was going to barf out of fear. The tall, short-haired model suddenly got an idea and smirked. "Actually, you know, Kuu sort of has a thing for me."

Kuu gasped in anger, scandalized that ANYONE would suggest such a thing. "YOU LIE!"

With one hand holding up the sheet surrounding her body, Mariko started a slapping war with Kuu who had the advantage of having both hands. Kuu squawked angrily, quickly gaining ground and backing Mariko all the way up to the bed.

"This is amazing!" Kichin continued snapping away. "Amazing! More, more feelings!"

The back of Mariko's knees had hit the bed and she fell on it naturally, with Kuu climbing up and pinning the tall model's one free hand down, triumphant and breathing heavily.

"Ha!" Kuu managed to bark out a short laugh while trying to catch his breath. Mariko, meanwhile, was looking up at him like the cat who had just caught the canary.

"Told you he has a thing for me!" Mariko announced triumphantly. Kuu's mouth dropped open, realizing he had totally played into this. The flash from the camera finally clued Kuu into the fact that he was being photographed.

"This is amazing, simply amazing!" Kichin looked like he was about to orgasm from the sheer MAGNIFICANCE of the scene.

"You played me!" Kuu accused.

Mariko replied by grinning evilly. But her grin faltered when she saw Kuu narrow his eyes thoughtfully.

"You wanna play, huh?" Kuu grabbed hold of Mariko's sheet and tugged. The look of alarm on Mariko's face made Kuu smirk. "Ohhhh... looks like SOMEONE bit off more than they could chew!"

"You cad-unhand me!" Mariko sputtered and turned, trying to crawl away. Kuu YANKING at the only covering she had was enough to make her start screeching.

"Kuu-sama!" Rino's jaw had dropped to her chest as Kichin continued snapping away with his camera, extolling on how wonderful the pictures would come out.

* * *

The shortest member of Persona had burst into the cafe where he was supposed to have met Keigo and Ray for drinks. A quick, frantic look around told him that neither were to be found in this cafe. He had resorted to interrogating the staff but unfortunately, was having little luck.

"Are you sure you don't remember?" Kai was trying not to bite the waitress' head off. She was swooning in front of Kai. SWOONING. The blonde didn't have time for this. He needed to find Ray; he needed to make sure she was alright. Ray hadn't messaged him back even NOW, and he was going crazy with guilt and worry. Worry because he was afraid something had happened to Ray and guilt because he might have delivered her straight into some horrible trap. Kai should've seen it. The way Keigo asked about Ray, his insistence that he see the Diva...

"Forget about that girl! Why don't you hang out here for a bit? We can BOTH get off at 5." The waitress giggled brainlessly, blushing and trying to HIT ON HIM. The blonde member of Persona wanted to wrap his fingers around the girl's throat and slowly throttle her to death.

"Here, I got this, Kai." Sae placed a hand on Kai's shoulder, stopping him from snapping at the waitress. She pulled her cellphone out, quickly finding the picture she wanted. Sayaka had insisted that the both of them kept photos of people they thought were noteworthy on their cellphones, to better recognize the enemies and friends of Persona. Keigo had been one such person of interest. "Have you seen this guy?"

The waitress gave Sae an annoyed look, but the bodyguard didn't budge, looking at the girl insistently until she folded. The young woman took a look at the picture and scoffed.

"Yeah. he was here just a while ago and met up with this tall woman with hair maybe all the way to her lower back." The waitress scrunched up her nose, trying to remember quickly and get Sae to move out of the way so she could again have an unobstructed view of Kai. "She seemed a little sick afterwards and they left together."

"Do you know where?" Kai wanted to pump a fist in the air. He was finally getting SOMEWHERE with this useless waitress! He had spoken too soon, as the waitress melted again and broke into convulsive giggles.

"Well, if you want to come to the back room with me, I can tell you alllll about where they went-"

"THANK YOU." Before Kai could attack the stupid waitress, Sae had grabbed the young man and dragged him out of the little cafe.

"What are you doing?" Kai was finally put down on the ground.

"She obviously doesn't know anything more and we're just wasting our time in there." Sae sighed in exasperation. It wasn't that she didn't care... well, wait... Sae really didn't care too much. Kai was her responsibility. Ray was not. Ray was Hiro and HIS crew's responsibility. Plus, Sayaka had mailed her in the car telling her that Kuu had run off and Sae REALLY needed to get back with Kai and then go find Kuu! "Look, we better get back to the restaurant before Sayaka has a conniption. I'm sure Ray's fine, wherever she is."

"I have a really bad feeling she's not." Kai was pacing furiously, his insides a jumble of nerves. He just knew that something was wrong. The waitress had said Ray had gotten sick... was she alright? She wouldn't not mail him back, he KNEW this for a fact. Kai also knew that Ray wouldn't go anywhere with Keigo willingly, without Kai. So where could she have gone?

"Kai-"

"The tv station." Kai smacked a fist into his open palm in a gesture of sudden enlightenment. That was it! Where would Ray go? Somewhere where Kai was, or she thought he was. Ray wasn't stupid, that much Kai was certain. Anywhere suspicious, she wouldn't go. So that left only safe places, places that Ray knew for sure Kai had a chance of being. Kai was sure... he HAD to be sure. He couldn't afford to be wrong.

"Kai." Sae sighed in exasperation as the boy was off like a shot. But the station was close by. Maybe after he had run himself ragged, Sae could take him back. Kai ran as fast as he could, with Sae trailing after him. He was a man on a mission and nothing would deter him as he ducked into the tv station, the security guards recognizing him and not bothering to stop him. Kai skipped taking the elevator to run up the fire escape stairs two at a time. By the time they got to the floor with the dressing rooms, Kai felt like he was going to barf up his spleen; his lungs burned like they were on fire but he didn't give himself time to rest. He had to find Ray.

"If... she was sick..." Kai gasped, explaining to Sae. "She would... go to... her... dressing... room!"

Kai went over to Ray's usual dressing room, a large mammoth one the charismatic Diva had made absolute certain that her paramour knew about, and pushed the door open. The room was dark, with obviously no-one inside. Desperately, he felt around for the lightswitch and felt only the worst kind of disappointment when the illuminated room produced no perverted songstress.

"DAMNIT, Ray!" Kai slammed the bottom of his fist on the wall and turned, heading back into the hallway towards the stairs again.

"Kai, Kai, Kai... woah. Come on," Sae flashed a charming grin, hoping it would stop Kai for a bit. "Come on. Stop for a bit. Lets think about this cuz you're acting crazy."

"I'm worried about her." Kai hissed lowly, not appreciating Sae wasting his time. He was so scared something might have happened to Ray, he was just so damn worried. Thoughts were running through Kai's head, barely staying there, barely making sense to Kai as Ray's safety was all important and there was no room, no time to sort out his jumbled feelings. Why wasn't she messaging him back? Kai took out his phone and called Ray again, depressing the buttons for her phone number instinctually; her contact details engrained in his memory. The phone just kept ringing, no-one was picking up.

"There's nothing you can do." Sae held on to the small man's shoulders, his ears filled with the sound of Ray's phone ringing. "You need to relax." Sae gave a disarming smile to some people passing by, urging them to move along, there was nothing to see here. "Lets just go back, finish dinner with Katsuyuki-san and Riku. Ray will probably call you after."

Kai stood there with his phone in his hand, grimly trying to decide. The rational part of his mind was telling him that he WAS acting crazy. It was Ray of all people. His perverted stalker. It was smarter to NOT be actively looking for her... but...

"Come on." Kai lead the way, going down the stairs, bursting onto the floor where he and Persona were sometimes assigned dressing rooms. Where would Ray be? Anywhere that Kai would most likely be. Kai stalked down the halls and since it was night time, there was nobody around. Kai opened every door he came across until he stopped at one, which was locked. Kai could make out a voice inside the room... and his blood ran cold when he recognized the voice immediately.

Without another thought, the blonde backed up and kicked the door as hard as he can, destroying the doorjam and sending the door almost off it's hinges.

"Are you crazy!-" Sae shut up abruptly at the sight of Keigo with, literally, his pants around his ankles. There was Ray, dishevelled and blinking owlishly, trying to push him away weakly and trying to hold on to what remained of her shirt. Her skirt had been ripped aside long time ago and she was just in her underwear, her long, creamy white legs marred by marks that Kai was sure would turn into bruises. They were both on the floor, Keigo holding Ray down by her neck, half-choking the songstress in the process. The scene made Kai die a little inside as he took in the carnage, the overturned chairs, the pushed-aside furniture... It took the small man a quarter of a second to take all this in and it didn't take Kai any time at all to choose his reaction.

"GET the FUCK off her!" Kai roared and ran forward, kicking Keigo off of the Diva with as much force as he had knocked the door down. The man went flying off Ray, curling up in a ball with a groan as he came to a stop against a table. Sae was on Keigo in a second, flipping him onto his stomach and locking his arms behind his back so he couldn't move.

"Call Hiro!" Kai snapped, working on automatic. He tossed Sae his phone and the bodyguard caught it one-handed, careful to keep Keigo restrained. Kai went to the door and closed it as best he could so no passerby's could look in and see what was going on, then immediately went back to Ray's side.

"Kai..." Ray looked up at the short man, in a daze. The blonde shrugged off his jacket and used it to fashion the songstress a skirt to cover up Ray as best as he could then pulled her into his arms, dragging her to a corner of the room as far away from Keigo as possible. Kai held Ray close, thankfully asking no questions and the taller woman leaned against him weakly.

"I'm so sorry," Kai muttered, feeling a blazing hot anger flare up inside of him; felt so helpless as Ray rested against him listlessly. This anger was directed at Keigo, of course. But also directed at himself. How could he have been so stupid? If Kai hadn't come a second sooner, if he had dragged his feet... "I am so, SO sorry, Ray."

"Kai... don't be... I'm... sorry..." Ray struggled to speak, her tongue felt like cotton. Was Kai angry at her? Why was he sad? She felt really, really weird. Ray had gone to the cafe to meet up with Kai and had been disappointed to only see his friend there. She sort of remembered that he was one of her kouhais, but she really hadn't cared who he was and was slightly amused when he seemed angry that she didn't recognize her at all. He had gone to buy her a coffee afterwards and she just remembered drinking that and then feeling really strange.

'Drugged... how very cliched...' Ray thought as she snuggled closer to Kai. She felt as if she could feel his heart, pounding against her. She hadn't been scared at all when Keigo had lured her into this room, on the false promise that Kai would be there. Hadn't been scared when he had tried to force himself on her. Ray had fought him off as best as she could, feeling nothing, really, except pissed off that someone would DARE touch her. Only when she saw Kai, all bright and angry in front of her did she feel something like relief and happiness mixed together. It wasn't because she had been delivered from a fate that Ray would have to consider worse than a bad review on her new CD... but relief that Kai was here. That through all her doubts even though she firmly forced herself to only think positive thoughts about Kai's feelings for her; that through everything it was true: Kai did care for her.

"It's my fault." Kai rocked the Diva gently, holding her, letting her rest heavily on him. He even went so far as to allow the Diva to raise her face and brush her cheek against his own in a gesture of affection, without flinching away. "I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you, Ray, really, I don't..."

Kai continued babbling, not really registering any of the things he was saying. He was just so glad to have Ray here, safe. He was also preoccupied with choking back his tears of abject relief, knowing things would've been bad if he hadn't gotten here when he had.

"Hiro's coming." Sae snapped the phone shut, and tossed it back to Kai, who caught it with little effort. The bodyguard was aware, quite aware that if Kai had listened to Sae about leaving, this whole scenario would've been quite different and quite tragic.

"Don't... be sad..." Ray lifted up her hand, feeling like she was buzzing, her body heavy like a rock but her mind floating away from her... but just touching Kai's warm cheek grounded her. The blonde placed his hand over hers and leaned into it, tired all of a sudden. But he stiffened when he heard Keigo croak out.

"Hey..."

Kai bristled, his arms tightening around Ray possessively at the sound of Keigo's voice.

"She... wanted it..." Keigo coughed out hoarsely. Everybody was pretty happy when Sae responded by grabbing a fistful of Keigo's hair and slamming his head into the floor. But the man wasn't done talking as he looked up, a sneer on his face.

"You actually... thought... I wanted to.. be friends? You're... an idiot. You knew what... I wanted... fucking gift-wrapped Ray up for me..." Keigo barked out a little laugh. Sae did everyone a favour and knocked his head against the floor again.

"Don't listen to him." Sae growled. While Keigo remained groaning on the floor, Kai kept his eyes locked on Ray, trying his best to ignore Keigo's words and silence the self-deprecating thoughts in his head.

"You're... so pretty..." Ray giggled lowly. "My knight... in shining... armour..."

"My princess is much prettier." Kai humoured the Diva, who was obviously not thinking right.

"But not a damsel.. in distress..." Ray suddenly frowned and grumbled. "I'm... okay by myself..."

"You can do everything by yourself." Kai nodded, knowing Ray had her pride. He was actually quite impressed with the girl for keeping her cool through out this whole debacle. She wasn't crying or going on like some of the actresses Kai had seen in the dramas nowadays. Ray was strong. When he had come into the room and seen Ray, eyes bright with fury at the fool who DARED touch her royal highness... now, thinking back on that he felt fiercely proud of her for fighting back and refusing to be victimized.

The sound of heavy footsteps running towards their room alerted them to the arrival of Ray's bodyguards, who burst into the room like angry pitbulls. Masa and Mako quickly went to Sae's side to take over, both big guys grabbing one of Keigo's arm and kneeling on his back to keep him down. Dai and Hiro were crouched beside Ray and Dai was gently peeling Ray's eyelids back to look at her eyes and try to ascertain her state at the moment.

"She's been drugged." Hiro announced after discussing Ray's symptoms with Dai. "It'll run through her system fairly quickly with some rest."

"I owe you my life, man." Hiro clapped Kai on the shoulder, heartfelt gratitude shining in his eyes. This was a job, but Hiro had spent enough time with the Diva to have developed a soft spot for her in his heart so that the princess was more than just his employer and charge. "Thank you, thank you SO much for finding her."

Kai nodded uncomfortably, suddenly aware of the situation he was in. A barely dressed Ray, burrowed in his arms...

"Noooo..." Ray whined, tucking her head in the crook of Kai's neck when Hiro tried to pick her up. "Leave me alone! I want to stay with Kai..."

"I'm sorry about all this." Kai suddenly blurted out, looking up at Hiro desperately. "If it wasn't for me, this wouldn't have happened-"

"It's not your fault. If it wasn't for you, my fucking soul freezes at the thought of what could've happened." Hiro said sternly, cutting Kai off. "It's that asshole behind me's fault. We'll take care of him, don't you worry. Now... it seems like Ray doesn't want to move. Can you move her? We want to take her home, then we'll call a doctor to take a good look at her."

Kai nodded, smoothing his hand across Ray's forehead to brush away stray strands of hair. Lowering his head to whisper softly to Ray, Hiro couldn't help but feel like he was intruding on a very private scene.

"Could I have your jacket?" Kai shook Hiro out of his thoughts and the big man slipped out of his large jacket, which was large enough to completely cover Ray all the way down to mid-thigh. Plus Kai's jacket, Ray looked like she was wearing a very ugly fashion rejection. But it was better than her just being in her underwear leaving her exposed for all to see the bruises that were starting to bloom across her white skin...

Ray was lucid enough to notice her state of dress. "I look... horrible. I refuse to... go out.. in this get-up."

"What are you saying, my jacket's not good enough for you?" Kai was talking to Ray like he would talk to a grumpy child. "Come on. Hiro will get you home-"

"I want you to take me home." Ray said stubbornly. Being away from Kai was not something she wanted and even though she was drugged and seeing stars, she knew enough to know that once Hiro took her, Kai would be gone.

"I've done enough." Kai touched her face gently again. "Hiro will have to get you home."

Masa and Mako exchanged looks before hefting the groaning Keigo up. He seemed to be dripping blood from his face.

"Really, Sae?" Masa tsked at the mess.

"He deserved it." Sae crossed her arms, not a bit sorry. "If you had seen-"

"No, no, you did a pretty good job." Mako cut her off. "But, you know, I would've..." The man trailed off to punch Keigo in the guts a few times. The man wasn't able to utter more than a whimper at the punishment and try to curl in on himself again. Mako and Masa both had blood-thirsty looks on their faces, obviously not done with Keigo. "...done that."

"What are you going to do with him?" Kai struggled with Hiro, to get Ray on her feet.

"We'll take care of it." Hiro said vaguely and nodded at Masa and Mako. They left the room first, dragging a still-groaning Keigo none-too-gently out of the room. Dai went to get the car so they could discreetly take Ray back home.

"Why weren't you guys with Ray?" Sae asked as they moved through the building. She was acting as look-out and cleared out the hallways if there were people still loitering.

"Sae-"

"No, it's a legitimate question." Sae insisted stubbornly. "Why weren't you watching the number-one selling artist in Japan?"

Hiro's eyes darted over to Kai, then back to the ground. "I.. I thought Ray would be happy if she could sneak off. I thought she was meeting up with... someone."

Even though Hiro tried to obscure the truth, Kai knew who the bodyguard was referring to and felt doubly guilty.

"Hiro, really." Sae tsked. "Sayaka's gonna take your ears off."

"You two seem to know each other. And Sayaka too..." Kai looked at them curiously, trying to ignore whatever Ray was whispering into his ears and blushing crimson as he caught the tail end of one of Ray's more sexually explicit songs.

"Well," Hiro shrugged, his face reddening charmingly. "Uh... Sayaka's my... *ahem* girlfriend."

"?" Kai's prolonged 'what' was not appreciated and Hiro gave the small blonde a dirty look. "I mean... that's nice. But... Sayaka. Wow."

"Think she's too good for me?" Hiro asked gruffly, feeling a little bit sensitive. He was a big lug, stupid and stubborn. Only good for one thing, really. "Don't worry, I think that too."

"You're... the best." Ray's quiet voice destroyed all of Hiro's doubts. He smiled down at his charge, who gave him a pointed look. If the Diva thought he was the best, then it was true. There was no arguing with Ray.

"Ray's right." Kai nodded, happy that Ray had saved him from putting his foot further in his mouth. "You're the best, Hiro. Sayaka's lucky to have you."

The head bodyguard nodded gruffly, looking away so they wouldn't see his blush. Of course, Sae had to point it out.

"Oooooo! Look at the big bad bodyguard blushing to the tips of his little-bitty ears!" Sae teased.

"Shaddup." He growled, adjusting his hold on Ray. The Diva, meanwhile, leaned heavily on Kai, relishing how warm he was... but could feel him quaking a bit.

"Kai...?"

The blonde flashed Ray a smile, but Ray, Queen of pretending, knew the smile was patently fake.

"I'm fine." Kai assured. "Just... worried about you."

"I'm safe now." Ray could still feel him shaking a bit, probably the result of the adrenaline leaving his system. To reassure him, Ray leaned down and brushed her cheek clumsily against Kai's. He stilled, calming at her closeness without even knowing it and clutched at her waist protectively.

'I'm here. I'm safe. It's because of you.' That was what Ray wanted to say, but she just didn't have the energy to say that and hope that Kai knew.

"I'm sorry." Kai whispered again. Ray stayed silent, smiling to herself dopily. Didn't Kai know, Ray would forgive him anything? Plus, this really wasn't his fault...

The group arrived underground, where Ray's car had pulled up as close to the door as possible and Masa and Mako formed a protectective wall around Ray, leading her all the way to the car. Sitting in the driver's seat, Dai looked back at his passenger, worry creasing his brows.

"She'll be fine." Hiro reassured the youngest bodyguard. Dai nodded, hesitantly. Kai extracted himself from a protesting Ray's grasp, promising to check up on her and asking Hiro to keep him updated on her situation. Quietly, Ray and her entourage left and only Sae and Kai stood there staring after their exhaust fumes.

"Kai." Sae placed a hand on Kai's shoulder, tentatively. She could feel him stiffen at her touch, could see the self-deprecating look in his eyes. "Come on. Lets go back to the rest of the guys."

Nodding stiffly, Kai lead the way with Sae following close behind him.

* * *

Riku and Katsuyuki had had a great time having dinner with just the two of them. Time had passed by so quickly, they realized they had spent almost 3 hours sitting there just enjoying each other's company. They found out they had a lot in common and ambition-wise, they were pretty compatible. Riku was, Katsuyuki thought, perfect. Riku disliked baseball, enjoyed calpis soda, liked idols, sort-of-not-really thought Ray was 'just okay', loved his friends, loved his family, had one brother... well. To be honest, Riku could say that he loved Hitler and Katsuyuki would still think Riku was perfect. And Riku cared about him and actually sat there listening attentively when the young director went on about his father.

"I try, you know." Katsuyuki sipped at his wine, watching how much he drank because he knew Riku didn't really like drunk people. "But some times I feel like I'm never good enough. But then, it's like I never get a chance to prove myself; my dad always wants to get involved and he's always looking at me when I make decisions as if to say 'really? you REALLY think that's a good idea?' And then I second-guess myself-"

"You seem to be doing okay, though." Riku was working on dessert. "I mean, not all these ideas you're coming up with is because of your father, right?"

"Well," Ryouga blushed. "It's... sorta because of you."

Riku almost choked on his dessert. "P-Pardon?"

"After what you said to me that night on the roof top of Fast Club, I thought, 'I have to grow a backbone'... mostly so you'll see that I'm not useless." Ryouga circled the rim of his wineglass with a finger.

"I don't think you're useless."

"Yeah," Ryouga shrugged self-consciously. He had really wanted to impress Riku... and without knowing it, he had reached across the table and daringly placed his hand on top of Riku's. The boy flushed scarlet at the touch, mirroring Ryouga's face.

"Watch me, I'll make you proud." Ryouga's voice cracked at the end of his declaration, but he meant every word. He wanted Riku to see that he was great.

"Just," Riku didn't move his hand, though it trembled underneath Ryouga's. "do your best. For yourself, not for me or anybody else."

"Sir, Kuu has come back." Sayaka announced, watching as the two men withdrew from each other quickly. Seriously, Sayaka could tell watching Persona was going to be a handful!

"Hey guys!" Kuu greeted cheerfully. At his return, the waiter, who had been watching for the missing dinerse carefully, retreated to the kitchen to retrieve Kuu's meal. "Sorry that took so long."

Riku tried to cover how flustered he was with a frown. "Where'd you go?"

"Went for yakitori!" Kuu answered cheerfully. Then his eyes narrowed and the smile dropped from his face. "And saw the Dinosaur."

"Dinosaur...?"

"He means Mariko-sama." Riku supplied.

"Oh! Shinoda-san, right? You worked with her on the 'Three Sisters' set." Ryouga was quite pleased. "You two have become really good friends, huh?"

"What? NO!" Kuu scowled at Katsuyuki for even suggesting such an atrocity.

"Well," Ryouga was slightly confused. "Cuz you have nicknames for each other... I thought..."

"Don't complete that sentence if you want to live," Riku said, half-joking and half-serious as he watched Kuu's face steadily get darker as Ryouga stumbled on. They were all interrupted by the front door smashing open and Kai clomping inside, a look of sullen anger on his face.

"Kai...?"

"I'm back." Kai growled and sat down, his eyes telling his bandmates that whatever it was, he didn't want to talk about it. Sayaka raised an eyebrow at Sae, who shrugged and shook her head. Sayaka raised both eyebrows now and nodded towards Kai. Sae, again, shrugged nonchalently.

'It's nothing my ass.' Sayaka had a sneaking suspicion Sae was keeping something from her. Meanwhile, the waiter had come with Kai's food and the blonde dug into it with gusto, ignoring his two friends. The rest of the evening was passed with everyone ignoring Kai and finally everyone heading home. Kai remained quiet as Sayaka drove, Sae sat in the front passenger seat and Persona sat in the back. No amount of asking from Kuu budged Kai, who just sat there staring out the window. Soon as they arrived back at home and Sae had opened the van door, Kai jumped out and was the first one into the house and also the first one to bump into Saeko and Marilyn.

"You." Saeko levelled a dark look on Kai. "Come into the living room, we have to talk."

Kuu and Riku followed curiously as Kai angrily huffed out a breath but obeyed.

"You ran off at the beginning of dinner." Saeko said bluntly.

"I'm not sorry." Kai immediately snapped, his nerves already frayed, the anger and frustration he had kept inside of himself bursting out. Sae and Sayaka peeked into the living room, wondering what was going on as Kai undid some of the bobbypins in his hair, ripped off his wig and threw it to the ground in a little temper tantrum.

"And if you want me to apologize, you can shove that up where the sun don't shine!" Nami snarled and spun around, running up the stairs.

"NAMI-!" Riku ran up after the short girl, unsure of what was wrong but knowing something was obviously very wrong.

"Um." Kuu was left standing there, fidgeting nervously.

"You." Saeko ignored Nami's little outburst and glared at Kuu now. "I heard you crashed Mariko-sama's little photoshoot."

"Um.." Kuu's mind raced, trying to think of a good excuse. He remembered fighting with the Fossil in a BATTLE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS! Then leaving in a huff with Rino to drop her off at the train station closest to the restaurant he was supposed to be eating at.

"Good job." Marilyn gave Kuu a thumbs-up. Kuu, confused, mirrored the action while Saeko looked upwards, to where Nami had retreated with Riku.

"Here," Saeko bent down and picked up Nami's wig, then handed it to Kuu. "Give this back to Nami... tell her to not throw a temper like that or next time, she won't be so lucky. And one more thing.." Saeko turned around to pick up Kai's jacket from the couch and passed it on to Kuu too. Dai had stopped by to drop it off and Saeko had bullied an explanation out of Dai; the knowledge of what Kai had done was the only reason Saeko wasn't cracking her whip and running after Nami. "This too."

Kuu retreated, feeling happy to have gotten away without a whipping.

"Ma'am..." Sayaka stepped forward bravely to take her punishment. Her employers knew she had left one of her charges alone to run the streets-

"I know there are only two of you and three of these idiots. Try your best." Saeko raised an eyebrow at Sayaka. "Remember, the only thing I want is that all of them stay safe."

"Yes, ma'am." Sayaka bowed low. Saeko now turned her attention to Sae who stood a little bit back from Sayaka, trying not to be noticed.

"Harder next time." Saeko drove her fist into her open palm to show Sae what she was talking about. The short-haired bodyguard grinned and nodded. "The both of you are off for tonight. Go. But remember we start bright and early tomorrow."

Sayaka and Sae headed upstairs to the rooms prepared for them since they would be live-in bodyguards. They were tired, today had been a long day. But the two stopped in front of the washroom door where Asahi and Hinata sans their wig, were trying to coax Nami to unlock the door and let them in.

"Go away!" Nami's muffled voice came through the door. The short girl just wanted to stay inside the washroom and wallow in self-deprecation. Even though she tried not to think about it, the thought of Keigo actually managing to finish what he started made Nami feel violently ill. They all said it wasn't her fault... but if she had just followed her gut, listened to the alarms that went off in her head, known better than to trust Keigo, hadn't been so enamoured with his good looks...

_Ray's sleeping now, we got a doctor to come in. he said she just needs plenty of water and bedrest so i'm calling her manager to tell him she's not coming in tomorrow. you should come visit her. The guys and I really wanna thank you for being there for her. drinks some time soon?_

Nami snapped her phone shut after reading Hiro's message, the knocking on her door having not gone away. In fact, now it sounded like there were a lot more hands knocking on the door. "Leave me alone!"

"Come on, Nami." Asahi knocked on the door desperately with Hinata beside her. Sae had also joined in playfully while Sayaka watched them, exasperated.

"Want me to open it?" Sae could see that the lock would be pretty easy to pick. All they needed was a coin to unlock it.

"Guys," Nami finally opened the door to peer out at them, thoroughly annoyed that they just would NOT leave her alone. "I'm fine."

"No you're not." Asahi tugged the girl out of the washroom then her and Hinata enveloped Nami in a hug. "Group hug to make it better!"

"Group hug!" Hinata squeezed extra hard to show Nami she was there for her! Sae shrugged and jumped in too, grinning.

"Group hug! Come on, Sayaka-"

"No, I don't wanna-"

But in the end, everybody was hugging Nami tightly and that was how Marilyn found them when she went upstairs to check on them.

* * *

endnote: so can anybody guess where this is heading? Cuz again... I can't. This train does NOT have a conductor!


	27. Chapter 27

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 27

author's notes: Gung Hei Fat Choi, everyone out there who celebrates REAL new year's!

* * *

Music 10! They had gotten on the charts! They had woken up to that news and at the end of the week, had been invited to perform on Music 10 in front of a live audience! Persona was rising up in the charts!

"You girls have been doing VERY well!" Marilyn complimented them while Saeko just stayed silent, though the pleased smile on her face told her that she was happy with her three talents.

"Good job, guys!" Sae cheered and slapped Nami on the back companionably. Like a couple of boys, Nami and Sae shoved each other back and forth, talking loudly and excitedly. Hinata had clasped hands with Marilyn and they were doing tiny jumps in place, gleefully. Riku was accepting quiet congratulations from Sayaka... everyone was excited for this! Music 10!

"As a reward, after going to record at the studio, you have the rest of the afternoon off to do whatever you want." Saeko said grudgingly. Marilyn had pointed out that if their girls get burned out, it wasn't good for them at all. And Persona HAD been working extra hard as of late!

"Good job." Saeko gave them a very rare compliment. "Now... why aren't the three of you dressed yet?" Saeko's whip seemed to materialize out of nowhere and the woman cracked it in Persona's direction. "Hurry up before I change my mind!"

The three girls scrambled back in to their rooms while Sayaka and Sae chuckled in amusement. They were quickly dressed and ready to get into the recording studio, actually quite eager to do so. Recording was actually one of their favourite things... making music with the recording crew was something that they enjoyed immensely.

"Go go go!" Kuu eagerly hustled everyone into the company van and they all made it to the recording studio quite quickly. The regulars-Candy, Paul, Nao and Hideki-greeted them cheerfully. Everybody was on their game today and Kai had nervously showed them a rough completed version of the lyrics for his song which was still untitled. It was interesting and deep but all the musicians wondered it if was a love song or a hate song.

"You can take it several different ways," Hideki mused. "But the story you tell is really intricate."

"It's good." Nao said seriously. Paul and Candy both nodded seriously. The wordplay Kai used was EXTREMELY good and even though they weren't sure on some Japanese words, the sound of it, the pacing; the way Kai sung it was stunningly different and extremely catchy.

"But we have to work on this first," Marilyn handed everybody music and lyrics and they all groaned. Management songs. GREAT.

"It's a Christmas song for the fans. We should have some generic pop pieces in there," Marilyn argued. And really, Kamonohashi Agency had already paid for this song. In Marilyn's opinion, the boys' creations were much better, but these generic songs were their safety net in case Persona's more creative songs didn't sell well.

"Hey," Riku drew Kai aside. "You know how we were talking about making dinner for everyone before, right?"

"Yeah?" Kai had been typing away on his cellphone, but quickly put it away at Riku's appearance. The defacto leader, however, could see that Kai had been reading a message from the Diva.

"Why don't we do it tonight?" Riku's eyes gleamed. They could buy groceries, cook and have guests over! It'll be a surprise! "Lets surprise Kuu and Marilyn and Saeko! I heard Marilyn mentioning to Saeko they had meetings for the rest of the day with Ryouga-Katsuyuki-san. We can get him in on the surprise too!"

"Oh!" Kai gave a thumbs-up and motioned with his head to the rest of the recording crew. "Should we invite everyone else too?"

"Yeah, but get them to keep it a secret from Kuu, shachou and Marilyn." Riku grinned slyly and nudged Kai. "Why don't we invite Ray? Or your precious 'Acchan'? Ooooo-"

"Hey, don't make me invite Jiro AND Yuko." Kai narrowed his eyes at Riku.

"Uh..." Riku blanked at the double threat. She sort of assumed Ryouga would come for this party too so with his three so-called love interests in the same house... Riku would DIE. He would die if all three of them showed up! "I apologize."

"I thought so." Kai smiled smugly. "Okay, so we'll go off and get groceries after this... what do we tell Kuu, though?"

"Nothing." Riku had already thought of this. "We'll get Nao to keep him busy."

"Oh man." Kai realized something. "We gotta keep being Persona even on our off-time though, huh? That sucks."

"Well, it'll be fun." Riku shrugged. "It's a small sacrifice to make."

Kai nodded, looking forward to the small party, actually. He needed a pick-me-up. Yesterday's event with Ray's near-rape had shaken him to the core. The thought of what happened yesterday still made him a bit nauseous. After Riku went off to discreetly pull the recording crew aside to tell them what was happening, Kai took out his cellphone again. He had been texting Ray non-stop since he woke up to see how she was doing. Apparently, she was fine but she kept asking for him to come see her.

_i'm still in the studio right now. i'll message you later, I have to finish this recording first._

Kai did want to see her though. Wanted to make sure the songstress was alright because even though he knew she was strong, he still couldn't help worrying about her.

'The fact that you worry about her is worrying.' Kai had been fighting down the little negative voice in his head, the one that asked him what he was doing. What were his feelings regarding Ray? Wasn't he supposed to avoid her? Why did he feel so god-awful horrible when he thought about harm coming to the stuck-up singer?

"_What's up?_" Paul asked in English and sidled over to Kai, nudging the blonde. The New Zealander had seen Kai looking unwell all morning, as if he had ate something bad. "Are you sick?"

"I'm fine." Kai smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "So are you coming?"

"To Persona's house?" Paul nodded. "Yeah, sure. Candy and I want to come over to help. We can cook."

"Oh!" Kai was surprised. "You can cook?"

"Of course!" Paul puffed out his chest proudly. "I'm a good cook! Candy, too!"

The Chinese drummer had come up and nodded brightly, making a motion very much like she was cooking something in front of a stove.

"_Awesome._" Kai gave both of them a high-five. "Want to come and grab groceries with me after this?"

Candy nodded while Paul gave his affirmative with a thumbs-up before the musicians scattered as Kuu approached.

"Hey, what's up?" Kuu was slightly confused when people scattered at his approach.

"Nothing." Kai shrugged casually. "Just telling them we have the day off!"

"Yeah!" Kuu clapped his hands together in glee. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, uh, I... have to..." Kai struggled to think of an excuse. "I have to go see a friend that's sick!"

"Oh." Kuu was slightly disappointed; he had wanted Kai to come with him and Nao on their shopping trip but understood that sick friends came first. "What happened to your friend?"

"She got hurt." Kai felt a stone settle in his stomach. Ray.

"Oh... is she okay?"

"I don't know." Kai shrugged helplessly. "She says she is. She's strong. But I'm worried..."

"So go visit her!" Kuu clapped Kai on the shoulder. "Maybe bring some cake?"

"I could..." Kai nodded, the excuse quickly shaping into a real idea of what to do. He had time before the party to visit Ray... if Candy and Paul went to buy groceries without him, then Kai could go visit Ray!

"Paul, Candy," Kai trotted over to the musicians' side. "Can you do me a favour?"

It wasn't much longer before Marilyn had come in to announce that they had the day off. Kai was off, with Paul and Candy quickly making themselves scarce while Riku announced that he was going home and Kuu got roped into shopping with Nao. Hideki had ducked out cheerfully, giving them a jaunty wave and saying that he'll see them all later. Nao had glared at the other tech-head for his slip of tongue but Kuu hadn't caught on at all.

"Well, come on!" Nao was actually quite happy to have Kuu all to herself, though. The boy was young, sure, but he was definitely charming and unbelievably attentive. No wonder everybody called him the playboy of the group!

"M'lady," Kuu held out his arm to her. Nao took it with a stately nod.

"Good sir." Nao nodded and were about to head out when Nao tugged him back. "Wait."

"What?" Kuu wanted to go shopping!

"Hoodie up," Nao pulled Kuu's hoodie up over his head. "Sunglasses."

With the hoodie covering his distinct hairstyle and the plastic sunglasses covering most of his face, it was near impossible to figure out who he was even with his trademark pout on his face.

"It's hot, Nao. I don't wanna." Kuu whined but he kept his hoodie up and sunglasses on.

"Hush." Nao scolded and pushed him along. They exited the building, nobody really paying any attention to Kuu since his disguise didn't stand out, he wasn't wearing anything flashy. It helped that the hoodies and baggy sweaters Kuu favoured seemed to mute his natural charisma and make him blend into a crowd without curious eyes seeking him out. They made their way to the train station, Nao talking happily while Kuu seemed equally happy to just listen and give input where he could.

"Shinjuku?" Kuu stood in front of the ticket machine, looking up at the train map. Nao nodded, watching happily as he paid for both their tickets, then let her grab his arm excitedly and run off towards the trains.

"It's been a while since I've had a day off." Kuu let out a small sigh of contentment, taking off his sunglasses since the inside of the train wasn't that bright. Okinawa hadn't counted, though it had been a very fun work experience... despite the Dinosaur darkening his path. "I'm so glad you're out with me, Nao!"

"Yes, yes," Nao replied fondly, rubbing the top of Kuu's head in a gesture of affection. She retracted her hand quickly though, when she realized that a bunch of teenage girls were looking over at them, whispering to each other excitedly.

"Seems like you have fans." Nao teased, stepping back a bit. She'd been in the industry for some time and knew how rumours could hurt up and comers. A photo from a camera phone could become scandalous and Nao might even lose her job if Saeko-shachou thought she was detrimental to Kuu's career in Persona.

"Really?" Kuu looked discreetly, catching the eye of the teenage girls on the other side of the train. All of them squealed excitedly when they got a good look at his face. "Ah. There they are."

Nao watched in amusement as Kuu gave the little group a jaunty wave and the girls all swooned/screamed, overwhelmed with joy. It took them almost the whole ride to Shinjuku to get one of the girls to go over and say a shy 'hi' to Kuu and ask for his autograph.

"Names?" Kuu asked kindly as he took various paraphernelia from them to sign. He tolerated the cellphones flashing in his face as people started taking pictures of him, thankfully not noticing Nao standing off to the side.

"Um, excuse me..." Nao was startled out of her thoughts by one of the school girls.

"Yes?" Nao asked cautiously.

"Could you take a picture for us?" The girl gushed. The other school girls looked at Nao pleadingly and she raised an eyebrow at Kuu who shrugged graciously and gave Nao a goofy smile.

"Alright." The girls gathered around Kuu and they all posed happily as Nao took a picture with one of the girls' cellphones. Right on time too, as the train slowly pulled into Shinjuku station and Nao quickly grabbed Kuu and disappeared into the crowd before the girls could follow.

"I'm famous, Nao!" Kuu crowed, just a little bit excited. He was famous!

"Just a little bit." Nao grinned at him, happy for the boy's success.

"Just a little?" Kuu protested. "I'm like, as big as Anpanman!"

After saying that, Kuu made little whooshing sounds while punching the air childishly with his fists, his playfulness making Nao laugh out loud. Kuu's randomness really help Nao relax and just... enjoy life. She was glad she had been assigned to help the boys in their studio, with their songs. Never in all her time working with different artists had she had THIS much fun and felt so comfortable around the artists. Usually, most male artists tried to hit on her and get into her pants while female artists had a tedency to pass over what Nao would say, treating her opinion as less important than a guy's. Actually, the male artists ignored her input too. That was why she tried to keep her distance and keep all social interaction to a minimal, since it hurt less when strangers talked down to her. When friends did that, it really upset her. That was why Nao was known as the Ice Queen in the studios. Nao hated to be talked down to, to be ignored when her advice was sound so she kept herself closed off so it wouldn't hurt as much when people didn't listen.

"Come on!" Slinging an arm around Nao's shoulders, Kuu put his sunglasses back on and was once again just a person in the crowd. But Nao knew who he was and could feel his happiness, like a fire, warming her. Kuu genuinely liked her and appreciated her, Nao could tell. And so did the other two boys. They even changed a song in a major way because she thought it would sound better!

"Oh!" Kuu's exclamation dragged Nao from her thoughts. She followed his line of vision and could see him looking dreamily at a group of girls decked out in lolita outfits. "That's just beautiful."

"Hmph." Nao slipped out from under his arm and started tugging him away, a little bit jealous of the girls in the frilly dresses. Kuu's usual reaction to girls was the same: he was polite, friendly but showed no interest beyond that. With these lolitas, he looked like he was in love.

"Did you see them?" Kuu let out another sigh.

"Yeah, yeah..." Nao, now not in the best of moods, smacked Kuu's arm lightly. "Pay attention to me! Are you going shopping with them or with me?"

"Oh! Right! I'm sorry!" Kuu apologized cheerfully, his attention fully back on her. "Aw, don't be mad. They were just so pretty... but of course, Nao is prettier than them!"

Nao tried to stop the blush from coming to her cheeks but quickly succumbed to a broad grin that threatened to split her face apart.

"There we go." Kuu smiled lop-sidedly. "A smiling Nao makes a happy Kuu. Hey, why don't we find a shop that sells Lolita outfits and you can try some!"

Tugging a relunctant, laughing woman through a department store building caught the attention of more than a few passersby, but no eyes stayed on them for long, Kuu's disguise hiding him quite well. But one pair of eyes alighted on them in recognition before the owner of said pair of eyes headed towards the duo.

"Kuu...?"

The tentative call stopped Kuu and Nao's laughter and Kuu immediately recognized the woman before him, even though she was wearing sunglasses and a surgical mask that most people wore during hay fever season.

"Acchan!" Kuu enveloped the other woman in a hug, excited. This was the first time since Okinawa that she had seen the actress! This was awesome!

"Kuu." Atsuko pulled away from the exuberent idol, glancing over at Nao and nodding at the woman politely who nodded back just as politely. "Your friend...?"  
"Oh! This is Kurokawa Nao." Kuu introduced. "She's our studio tech. The BEST in the business."

Nao blushed bashfully at the praise and bowed low to Atsuko, finally recognizing the woman as the popular actress from the hit tv-series, 'Three Sisters'. The tech remembered that Persona had also guest-appeared on that show, though Nao had been a bit too busy to catch up on the drama recently.

"Nao, this is Kai's Acchan-"

"Kuu!" Atsuko blushed at Kuu's introduction, but didn't bother to correct him. Nao raised an eyebrow, wondering at Kuu's little pronouncement. "Well... um..." Atsuko struggled to change the topic. "Do you have the day off? Kai told me last night that you guys were in the studio all day today-"

"See?" Kuu nudged Nao conspirationally. "She's 'Kai's Acchan'!"

"Stop telling people that!" Atsuko hissed, looking around furtively. "I called him because I had a day off today, but he had told me that he was working all day today..."

"Well, we got a half-day off today suddenly this morning." Kuu explained. "So Kai wasn't lying to you."

"I never said he was." Atsuko shrugged. It was true. She trusted Kai implicitly.

"He's going to visit a sick friend today." Kuu supplied, still worried that Atsuko might be mad at Kai. "Why don't you come over? We can plan a surprise for him!"

Nao's eyes widened at the invitation and she immediately began gesturing wildly behind Kuu, which Atsuko noticed.

"Um, Maeda-san," Nao fumbled in her bag for a notebook and a pen, scribbling something quickly on the pad before pushing it into the actress' hands, using her body to block Kuu from seeing. "Could I have your autograph?"

_there's a surprise for kuu at the house. call riku for best time to go_

Atsuko read the message quickly and with a brilliant smile, signed over the message with a quick '_will call_'.

"Of course, Kurokawa-san!" Atsuko watched Nao slip the pad back into her bag, impressed with the techie's poker-face. "Well, Kuu, thanks for the invitation... but I have something to do today."

"Oh, boo." Kuu pouted. "You could've invited Yuko, Kasai and Tomochin, too! I miss you guys. Is Mayu still around?"

"I don't think so. Tomochin said it was just a one-time thing in Okinawa." Atsuko shrugged, noticing the glaring omission of Mariko's name and smiled a bit. Children. Still fighting when everyone knew they adored each other. "I'll call you if I can make it."

"Sure." Kuu grinned impishly at Atsuko again. "Say 'hi' to Kai for me!"

"YOU say hi to him for me. I see him less than you." Atsuko scowled to hide her blush. With a quick wave, she headed off. Nao could see her dialing a number on her phone before disappearing around a corner.

"Kai and Atsuko were like THIS," Kuu clasped his hands together tightly to emphasize how Kai and Atsuko were, "in Okinawa! It was like they'd known each other forever!"

"Are they dating?" Nao lowered her voice, eyes darting around to make sure nobody heard her. It was understand amongst all staff that scandals involving their famous co-workers never helped anyone. But that didn't mean they didn't gossip amongst themselves.

"Welllll..." Kuu shrugged. "It's complicated."

"What about you, Kuu?" Nao was genuinely curious. And she sort of felt, well, she knew it wasn't true... but she sorta felt that Kuu belonged to her. Of the recording crew, they had all picked one of the boys as their favourite, the one they liked the most even though they LOVED Persona all equally. Kuu was Nao's favourite, no surprise there. So she wanted to know if he had a special someone on the side...

"Hah!" Kuu barked out a laugh, grinning foolishly. "Me? No, I don't think I'm that popular. I'm not as popular as Kai and Riku."

"I like Kuu the best." Nao said honestly, a little bit taken aback by Kuu's casual way of putting himself down. "You SAY you're not as popular but I bet you some girl out there has your photo pinned to her ceiling and thinks about naughty things at night with you featured in them-"

"Ew! Nao!" Kuu laughed, bumping shoulders with Nao playfully. "Don't say things like that!"

"-and they probably imagine you in bed with them, with all your clothes off," Nao continued blithely, watching as Kuu was struck completely speechless, his face turning a lovely shade of red. "They probably imagine licking chocolate sauce off your-"

"NAO!" Kuu burst out laughing now, the ridiculousness of the situation. "Who knew you could be so dirty?"

"What?" Nao asked impishly. "I was going to say your FINGER. Or elbow. Anywhere except where YOU were obviously thinking. So who's the dirty one, huh?"

Kuu let out another delighted laugh and slung an arm around Nao's shoulder, hugging her quickly before Nao pulled out and dragged him towards the woman's section of which Kuu was more than happy to follow.

* * *

Kai looked up at the building, slightly in awe of the place. One of the best condos in the heart of downtown, with thick glass doors, a door man and security guards. He felt slightly intimidated and... under-dressed since even the guy manning the front desk looked well-groomed, the pen resting in his breast pocket far more expensive than everything Kai had on altogether.

"Come on, man-up!" Kai cleared his throat. He had on a regular delivery man's uniform, a white cloth tied around his head to emulate a delivery guy's headgear. In his hands was a simple white box. Clearing his throat, he approached the building, easily seeing the paparazzo that lurked around. Thankfully, the fake beard Kai had on seemed to fool the gossip hounds and they glanced at him once but ignored him and kept smoking and chatting amongst themselves. Pressing the button on the fancy looking speaker box, he blinked rapidly when the suspicious face of the guy at the desk appeared on the video screen to peer at Kai.

"Yes?"

"Um, delivery? F-For the penthouse?" Kai cursed his stuttering voice. The man on the screen looked at Kai suspiciously one more time before the screen blinked out. In a few seconds though, the man appeared again, his face pale.

"Sir, ano, my humblest apologies. Please come in."

Kai was buzzed in. The doorman opened the door for him quickly and Kai passed the second, tinted glass doors. As soon as he was in the cool lobby, he could see Masa and Mako walking towards him.

"Dude!" Mako laughed, seeing Kai's fake beard. "That's weird, man!"

"Shut up!" Kai growled, blushing a bit. "Hiro said disguise. This was all I could find on short notice."

Masa tugged at Kai's facial hair, letting go and guffawing loudly when the fake beard smacked Kai's upper lip and the blonde cursed in pain.

"Damn you guys!" Kai pushed Masa, though there wasn't really any anger behind his eyes. "Alright, I'm sorta on a schedule so I gotta run up, how's Ray?"

The two bodyguards immediately sobered up, their faces hardening, their anger changing them. The small disguised Kai felt slightly uneasy though, at the triumphant look in their eyes.

"She says she's fine." Masa nudged Mako and the man took out a folded, crinkled newspaper from his back pocket, handing it to Kai with a dark smirk. "And we made sure that asshole won't be coming around."

Kai scanned the newspaper, feeling oddly detached as he read about a young talent-name withheld-from Monkey Productions, who had gotten attacked and was hospitalized. Whoever the victim was, hadn't woken up yet. The paper said the young man had suffered an enormous amount of damage and looked to have been thrown from a moving car and if anybody had any information, to come forward to the police...

"One guess who this poor young man who was so 'brutally victimized' is." Mako's lips curled up into a snarl. Victimized? Mako had wanted to tear the newspaper apart when he read that word.

"He won't bother anyone anymore." Masa said pointedly, sharing this information with Ray's love interest. Kai, even though he knew he should've felt alarmed at how unconcerned the bodyguards were at the harm they had inflicted on someone, felt nothing but... a grim satisfaction.

"Good job, guys." Kai nodded and handed the paper back to Mako.

"Don't wanna keep it?" Mako and Masa walked Kai to the elevator, entering it with him. Mako pulled out a plain, thick plastic card and swiped it in the card reader beneath the buttons in the elevators then pressed the button for the penthouse.

"I'm fine." Kai replied curtly, a little bit uncomfortable as Ray's bodyguards laughed. Though Kai would never rat the two out and was frankly, quite glad that Keigo got what was coming to him... the blonde idol felt slightly guilty that he didn't feel any sympathy at all for Keigo. They arrived at the penthouse suite quickly enough, the elevator doors opening to reveal Dai sitting on a chair in the hallway of this floor.

"Is that real?" Dai pointed to Kai's beard, right after greeting the short young man.

"It's fake, okay?" Kai shook his head ruefully, finally taking off his fake beard and stuffing it into his pocket. "Where's Hiro?"

"He's just inside with the doctor and Ray."

"Doctor?" Kai felt as if his heart had stopped beating all of a sudden.

"Just a quick check up. Ray complained about a headache this morning." Dai shrugged, rolling his big shoulders. "The doc from last night did say yesterday that Ray would feel like she had a really bad hangover, but Hiro called another doc in today just to make sure."

Just as Dai finished the explaination, the door to the suite opened and an older woman came out, saying goodbye to Hiro who was seeing her out. Immediately upon seeing Kai, Hiro grinned and waved the young man in while motioning for Masa and Mako to see the good doctor back down to the lobby.

"Nice of you to come." Hiro waited patiently as Kai kicked off his shoes at the entrance area before leading the blonde into the large living space. The blonde was focused on finding the songstress as quickly as possible, but was still able to dimly register that Ray's home was very modern and was tastefully but sparsely decorated. The hardwood floor was clean and polished and the main colours in the house seemed to be earthy browns, greens and clean whites.

Kai could hear that the television was on and arrived in the living room to find the long-haired beauty sitting on the luxurious white leather couch flipping trought channels in a bored fashion. As Kai stood there, looking at the back of Ray's head, he saw her sort of straighten at attention, almost like a dog, then call out to him tentatively, her voice sounding a bit raw.

"Kai?"  
"Ray." Kai watched as the Diva slowly turned to face him, pleased that she had been right.

"Kai!" The Diva stood up, revealing the fact that she was in a tanktop, a pair of comfy shorts and was totally without make-up and her hair up in a messy bun. This did not stop Ray from looking breath-takingly gorgeous.

"Ray." Kai felt his words catch in his throat as he caught sight of the bruises on her pale neck, ugly splotches of black and blue that stood out from the paleness of her throat. Seeing the evidence of Keigo's rough handling of the princess, all guilt about not feeling bad about Keigo being hospitalized vanished.

Kai seriously wished, at that moment, that Keigo had died. And Kai would've been glad if he had been the one to kill him.

"Are you alright?" Kai hurried around to couch, putting down the plain white box he had been carrying on the floor to pull the woman back down on to the couch to sit with him. Kai reached out and held Ray's face carefully, smoothing away the hair from her face to study and take inventory of her hurts and pains. Hiro, meanwhile, had made his exit quietly. Ray would be alright in Kai's hands.

"I'm fine," Ray croaked out and put on a teasing smile on her face. "Oooo... are we role-playing? Do you have a biiiiiiig package to deliver?"

"Stupid." Kai flushed.

The Diva smiled, closing her eyes. She had been a little bit angry at the fact that the bruises would probably take more than a few days to go away and she'd have to use either make up, clothes or a combination of the two to hide the bruisings. But now, she was almost happy she had these marks as Kai's cool fingertips were soothing to her throat and she almost purred in pleasure... if it weren't for the fact that it pained her to make sounds at the moment. Apparently, Keigo's strangling hold had bruised her larynx. It wasn't that bad, but the doctors that had seen her had both said to not stress her voice for the next couple of days.

Ray's eyes flew open in alarm when she heard a sniffle and saw Kai turn away from her quickly to wipe at his eyes with the back of his hand roughly.

"Kai?" Ray's voice made him turn back to her, his eyes red and angry.

"I'm sorry, Ray." Kai shook his head. "I shoulda known, I didn't think and he-I'm so sorry. It's my fault-"

Ray stilled his rambling with a finger on his lips. She smiled at him-her shy, heartbreakingly kind and gentle Kai who worried about her so much. Everybody was worried but she was fine. Really. She had spent most of the day thinking about Kai, of course, but also about what had happened to her. After a bit of soul-searching, Ray really hadn't felt like she needed to give the unpleasantness of yesterday much thought. She wasn't going to dwell on it or think about the what if's. The outcome had been positive for her. Keigo had been beaten to within an inch of his life and she was fine except for a few bruises. It was nice that Kai was so worried for her, too. Really nice.

"Kai," Ray whispered, her fingers trailing to the sides of Kai's face. He didn't resist as she leaned in to kiss him softly, thrilled when he stilled, sighed and let her. Her heart felt like it was singing as both his hands-instead of pushing her away-came to rest on her hips. Ray climbed up on him, straddling his body, eyes closed and sighing blissfully as he opened up to her feelings for him and let her taste him, taking him in desperately like this was the first and last time. She needed this like she needed air, really, didn't know she needed his touch like this to take away the unpleasantness from yesterday lingering memory.

Kai squeezed his eyes shut, trying to suppress that unknown fear he felt as Ray's lips touched his, forcing himself to let her do this, giving her this physical intimacy. Even though the songstress said she was fine, on some deeper level Kai knew she needed this reassurance from him, this small gesture.

Though the blonde had at first thought of letting Ray just do this and grudgingly consider it a good deed done; Kai was slowly losing all reasoning skills and coherent thoughts as a feeling akin to excitement bubbled up in him. The reasons why he was doing this was lost to him and only how good it made him feel, the exhilerating vertigo, like a supernova bursting inside him or an addict's desperate search for his high, finally reached... Ray's lips on his own, the heat, her tongue shyly tracing the entrance of his mouth... this was bliss and he felt himself pressing down onto the couch, holding himself away from her even though he wanted to press up into that soft touch. Unsure of these surging, exciting feelings, he kept his hands on her hips, digging his fingers in and unconsciously pressing that part of her down on him, that maddening heat driving him on...

Ray never wanted anything more than she wanted Kai. The pressure against the core of her, that delicious feeling that squirmed inside Ray made the Diva groan in frustration, wanting so badly to connect with another in the only way a body knew how. She didn't know why or what about him that attracted her to him and would have to say there were huge factors that should've repulsed her from the adorable blonde. One was namely his brashness. Ray didn't like it when people yelled at her, but his honesty was endearing and cherished. Kai treated her like everyone else and in doing so, also treated her like like no-one else ever had.

Kai was also a newbie in the industry. Ray did NOT hang out with newbs but here she was, making out with one and wanting anything else from Kai he was willing to give her. It was mostly because, unlike the new artists that tried to get a leg up by rubbing elbows with Ray; he didn't want that. His work ethics, funny enough, was maddeningly attractive to the songstress.

And of course, physically, he wasn't the ideal man. But to Ray, Kai was the ideal PERSON. He was soft and small, fitting so perfectly with her tall frame. His flashing eyes, the smoothness of his face, his plump, bow-like lips-thoughts of his body under her was making her lose all sense of control! Ray's hands strayed from the blonde's face, trailed down to the top of the one-piece deliveryman's uniform Kai was wearing to work at the buttons there-

"No!" Kai panicked, grabbing Ray's hands and pushing her away. The Diva fell back, hitting the sofa with Kai on top of her now, holding down her hands. His eyes panicked, his breath coming in short and fast.

"It's fine," Ray tried to calm the blonde down, about to tell him, or really, HER, 'I know', if it weren't for the fact that the songstress started coughing painfully.

"Ray? Ray!" Kai let go, jumped off Ray's body and was crouched in front of her quickly as Ray sat up, hand covering her mouth and coughing like she was on her deathbed. "Shit, shit, shit-I'll get Hiro to call the doctor back. Stay right here-"

Before Kai could run off, Ray had grabbed his wrist, still coughing, but grinning through the pain.

"I'm... alright..." Ray reassurred Kai as his hands fluttered back to her face, his eyes trained on her, trying to discern if she was lying just to comfort him. "I'm alright. Really."

"Are you sure? Can I get you anything?" Kai looked around frantically, his eyes catching sight of a glass of what seemed to be water on the table. He hurried to get and and was sitting by her side again with an arm around her shoulder, his earlier discomfort forgotten in the face of Ray's pain. The charismatic songstress took the glass thankfully and drank the still-hot concoction of honey, water and various herbs. It soothed her throat and Kai's pleased smile at her own smile made the drink taste even sweeter.

"Does your throat hurt a lot?" Kai question. Ray nodded, not trusting herself to speak and not trigger another coughing fit.

"Well, I guess you can't eat the cake I brought." Kai looked at the box on the floor, a little bit wistfully. "It's from Miho's favourite cake shop."

"Cake?" Ray whispered hoarsely, perking up. She had really JUST felt like eating cake before Kai had got here. Getting up and grabbing the box, she turned to grab Kai's hand and start tugging him to the kitchen.

"But your throat-" Kai was cut off by the pleading look on Ray's face. She had been CRAVING cake before he came to see her.

"Okay," Kai got the non-verbal communication, chuckling. Seemed like the Diva wanted her cake. "But only one piece today, okay? You can have the rest when you're better."

Ray nodded and clapped happily, then resumed dragging Kai to the kitchen.

* * *

"That smells so good!" Riku moaned, looking over Candy's shoulder. The Chinese girl rolled her eyes and nudged Riku away, no amount of flattery was going to make Candy give him a taste.

"Just a little bit, please!" Riku didn't like to beg, but here he was, begging like a dog. Candy had made some kind of fried flat brown noodles with beef dish and it smelled absolutely DELECTABLE. Paul was standing on the sidelines, just waiting for his lasagna to finish baking. He had been relieved to see that Persona's house had an oven so he didn't have to run out and beg restaurants to let him use their ovens. THAT smell was also driving Riku crazy, but the lasagna wasn't even ready.

"Ita!" Riku's hand was smarting from the smack Candy had dealt him with her spatula. Shaking the cooking utensil at Riku threateningly, the drummer managed to run Riku out of the kitchen and into the dining room where Paul had also retreated. Riku, determined to get a taste of ANYTHING Candy had made, was back in the kitchen.

"Fine, I'll just have some dessert-" Riku was unceremoniously pushed out of his own kitchen. Candy was NOT letting Riku touch the jello in the fridge! The jiggly dessert was still liquidy and Riku had already slurped up two small cups!

"Why not eat your own stuff?" Paul asked, looking at the spread already on the table. Riku had made salad, prepared for some shabu shabu, fried karage and cooked Chinese fried rice that Candy had rolled her eyes at.

"But I want what Candy's making!" Riku whined. "The noodles smell SO good and the jello has little bits of fruit in it..."

"We'll eat later," Paul chuckled. "So," The bearded man crossed his arms and tried to be nonchalant. "Where's Sayaka?"

"She's gone off to buy some soya sauce. We were out." Riku flopped down on a chair, really considering throwing a tantrum. But he was pretty sure if he did, Candy would probably make sure he gets nothing.

"Riku," Sae ducked into the room. "Maeda-san and guests are here."

"Sure, tell them to come in." Riku had gotten a call from Atsuko before and knew that Atsuko was coming over with Mariko and Tomochin. "And you're off work today, stop working!"

"I never stop working." Sae called back. The bodyguard was back in the room with the two guests and after further insistence from Riku, sat down on the couch beside Riku to relax.

"Too bad Yuko couldn't come, eh?" Tomochin teased, nudging Riku with her foot.

"Why did you invite this one too?" Riku whined, of course, he was just teasing. He had missed everyone and was a bit disappointed that Kasai-san and Mayu hadn't showed up. He was, of course, relieved that Yuko couldn't come. RELIEVED. But a tiny bit disappointed. TINY BIT.

"Whatever, you want this." Tomochin winked, while presenting herself like she was some sort of prize. The newcomers introduced themselves to Paul and Candy, who waved at them from the kitchen and settled down to chat.

"Tea?" Riku had a large bottle of chilled green tea and everyone sat around to wait. Kai had said he would be back soon and Katsuyuki-san had messaged Riku and told him that the meeting would be over in half-an-hour. Riku had then mailed Nao and she knew to get to the house around the same time the management was heading back.

"Thanks." Mariko grabbed plastic cups for everyone. "Where IS Kai, anyways?"

Riku shrugged. "Said he was going to visit a friend that's sick."

"Is that sick friend, Ray?" Mariko asked derisively. Atsuko nudged the tall girl, actually not wanting the answer to that question. "No, seriously, is it?"

Riku shrugged again. "He didn't say."

"Hey, guess who I bumped into!" The sound of the door opening and closing and Sayaka's voice heralded the arrival of more people. Sayaka walked into the room, greeting everyone politely before ducking into the kitchen to help Candy out. Kai, meanwhile, trudged in right behind Sayaka. His eyes lit up though when he saw Atsuko and the short young man immediately gravitated to Atsuko, having to make a real effort in stopping himself from hugging the actress.

"Acchan! I didn't know you were here too!" Kai felt so relaxed around Atsuko, as her hand reached up to briefly squeeze his forearm. It was like her touch milked out the stress in the blonde from Ray's meeting.

"Surprised?" Atsuko tried to keep her teasing on low, but the familiarity in which they interacted with each other caused everyone in the room to break into mischievous grins.

"Oooooo... I wish *I* had someone to miss me like that!" Tomochin sighed exaggeratedly.

"We will one day, but not like ACCHAN and her KAI! OoooooOOOoo!" Mariko joined in their good-natured ribbing as Kai and Atsuko's face reddened. A lot of the conversation passed over Paul's head and blankly smiling, added in to the teasing unknowingly.

"Kai, I didn't know you were dating Maeda Atsuko!"

"We're not dating!" Kai immediately protested, red in the face. Seriously! Was this happening all over again?

"Well, to the public we're not." Atsuko immediately hooked her arm in Kai's, saving him from the blunder he had made. They WERE dating. But not really. Kai had to stop himself from smacking himself on the forehead. RIGHT! They WERE dating! Quickly, he put an arm around Atsuko's waist.

"Shhh." Kai put a finger up to his lips, playing along. He tried to control his face, stop it from heating up... but when Atsuko ducked down to nose his ear, he knew his face was so red, it could be mistaken for a stoplight.

"Hey, Yuko said Ray's still hanging around you, though, right?" Mariko frowned a little bit as Tomochin tensed up. Everybody was in different camps when it came to the Ray issue. Tomochin was firmly in Ray's camp. The Three Sisters' actresses were in Atsuko's. Kuu and Riku were in Kai's... but while everybody was in tents, Kai felt like he was running around in a minefield as mortars exploded around him.

"Kai," Sayaka called from the kitchen. "Can you help me in here?"

"Right away!" Kai scurried away.

"I can help too." Paul wandered to the kitchen finding a good excuse to be around Sayaka, but was promptly kicked out by Candy.

"Thanks." Kai breathed out. Sayaka nodded in acknowledgment. "They were killing me out there."

"If you stopped playing around, then you wouldn't have this problem." Sayaka said seriously.

"I don't try to get into these messes." Kai protested as Atsuko slipped into the kitchen. Candy raised an eyebrow at the actress but decided to ignore her, concentrating on cooking instead.

"Thanks for saving me, too." Atsuko pouted at the blonde. Kai apologized quickly, feeling comfortable enough in the kitchen to grab Atsuko's hand. He pulled her close so Atsuko had her back pressed flush against his body as he leaned against the counter. Their casual physical affection made Sayaka shake her head in exasperation. This was EXACTLY what she was talking about!

"Aren't you supposed to be dating Ray?" Sayaka whispered and glanced over at Candy to make sure she wasn't listening, but the Chinese woman seemed engrossed in cooking.

"Well..." Kai shrugged distractedly as Atsuko entwined her fingers in his and tightened his hug on her body. They really were adorable as Kai momentarily forgot he had an audience and leaned forward to whisper something in Atsuko's ear. The actress giggled, then nudged him to remind him they weren't alone.

"It's complicated." Kai sighed, suddenly remembering what he had been doing with Ray on the Diva's couch. It had become a lot more complicated as Kai tried to not pay attention to something nagging in his head, trying to get his attention. But he had to ignore it, for his own sanity.

"Guys, guys, guys!" Paul appeared at the entrance of the kitchen, excited. "Nao says they're almost here! And Sae says your manager's car just pulled up!"

Candy was just putting her creation on a plate and gave everyone a thumbs-up. The preparations were ready!

* * *

endnote: Took a while... Thanks for your reviews and comments, guys. Been a bit busy lately, so this one was a long one to make up for it. Happy Lunar New Year's to everyone who celebrates it!


	28. Chapter 28

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 28

author's note: I'M SORRY! I know it's been a while, this chapter was really hard to write because... well, you guys will see. I'm not of a party-scene writer person... so warning in advance, this chapter is a bit weak. Working on the next chapter, but it's sloooooow going. Real life is STILL being an itch with a capital B and I've been running in and out of the country... Excuses, excuses, I know. Well, hope you guys enjoy this and I do love your reviews, seriously.

* * *

"Stop crying." Riku patted Kuu on the shoulder as he sobbed into his hands. They were upstairs in the washroom, while Kai tended to guests downstairs. Kuu, Marilyn, Nao, Saeko and Katsuyuki-san had all arrived at the house together and the small group at the house had greeted them with a "SURPRISE! OTSUKARE!"

Kuu had been so overwhelmed he had burst into tears when everyone had greeted them with a

"I... can't... help it!" Kuu sobbed, completely touched by how his friends had gotten together to give them this nice surprise. Marilyn had teared up and hugged the boys, then bowed her thanks to everyone. Saeko had, for once, been struck speechless. But she nodded at the boys with something akin to pride on her face and her eyes had looked suspiciously damp.

"Hey," Mariko poked her head into the room and grinned at Kuu. "Stupid. Why are you crying?"

"Shut... up!" Kuu snarled through his tears. Riku just chuckled and patted Kuu on the back, knowing with Mariko here, the sensitive young man would be alright.

"Kai's looking for you," Mariko turned to Riku, ignoring Kuu's glare. "He needs help."

"What? Why help?" Riku frowned. It was a simple dinner party! Why couldn't the blonde deal with-

"HELP ME, RIKU!" Kai's panicked voice sent Riku scrambling out of the washroom. Mariko watched Riku go thoughtfully, then turned back to Kuu with an evil smile on her face.

"What are you... going to do?" Kuu asked fearfully, wiping at his face. Mariko just let out an evil laugh before slowly closing the door behind her. Kuu's little choked scream of sheer terror went unheard as the party was apparently in full swing downstairs, Kai's screams covering up any sounds Kuu would make.

"Oh, come on. Stop being a baby." Mariko tsked, grabbing a bunch of toilet paper she started dabbing at Kuu's wet face. "What kind of man cries all the time?"

"A... sensitive man." Kuu hiccupped. "One who.. cares... and loves his friends!"

"You're ridiculous." Mariko snorted, trying hard to keep some of the fondness out of her voice. Kuu pursed his lips together and looked up at Mariko curiously as she wiped his tears away.

"Why are you being so nice?" He suddenly asked.

Mariko shrugged. "You remind me of some of my younger friends."

"You have young friends?" Kuu shook his head. "Isn't that like, pedophilia?"

"They're just friends." Mariko's eyebrow twitched. You TRY to be nice, but this was what you get for trying...

"Say no to compensated dating!" Kuu continued on blithely. "Really, you're not even half-bad looking, Dino. You could get a nice guy your own age..."

"My friends are all girls!" Mariko snapped.

"Even worse!" Kuu gasped. "Taking advantage of young, innocent schoolgirls! I mean, the boys might be just hitting puberty but the girls are just so young and maleable-"

While Kuu talked, Mariko produced a stick of lipstick from her pocket and started writing calmly across Kuu's forehead.

"RIKU!" Kai had shouted as soon as he spotted their leader coming down the stairs. The blonde was tied to the little stuffed cow that Saeko kept in the living room and everyone was playing pin the tail on the donkey. Kai was, unfortunately, the proverbial donkey. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for him, the tail was Saeko's whip. And they weren't really pinning it as much as just trying to smack Kai's butt while blindfolded.

"Please stop." Atsuko was out of her depth, standing in front of Kai's rear and trying to shield the blonde with Nao by her side, trying to convince them to put down the whip. Obviously, it was Saeko who had suggested this game and Sae and Tomochin had gleefully agreed. Paul was laughing out loud while Sayaka was trying to hide her smile and Katsuyuki-san stood off to the side, unsure but amused by the situation. Candy was bringing stuff out of the kitchen and seemed to be deliberately ignoring the crazies.

"Hey, everyone, door!" Saved by the bell and while everyone was distracted, Riku untied Kai who rolled off and hid behind Atsuko and Nao.

"Sorry I'm late!" Hideki was shrugging off his jacket as he came in, carrying a couple of familiar boxes. "But the lines were crazy and Candy had texted me saying there wasn't enough dessert cuz someone was eating all the jello she was making-"

Candy, who had materialized beside Riku, gave the young man a punch on the shoulder.

"Ow, hurtful!" yelped the de-facto leader.

"-so I bought-"

"BEARD PAPA!" Sayaka jumped for joy, clapping and squealing girlishly, recognizing the yellow boxes. When everyone gave her a strange look, she blushed and ducked into the kitchen.

"_So fucking cute!_" Paul whispered to Candy. Candy, in reply, punched Paul on the arm too. "_What the hell! What was that for?_"

Candy's droll expression told everyone in no uncertain terms, that she thought the New Zealander was being an idiot.

"_What? You think she's outta my league?_" While Paul talked to Candy and the Chinese woman responded non-verbally, everybody had stopped picking on Kai and gravitated towards the food. Riku grabbed the boxes of cream puffs and set them out on the table, then promptly started shovelling Candy's noodles onto a paper plate he had. He had been DYING to eat this! Positively DYING!

"Quite a party, huh?" Katsuyuki-san shuffled up beside Riku and also grabbed a plate. Riku almost jumped out of his skin; he had totally forgotten Ryouga was here in the excitement!

"Yeah," Riku shrugged then pointed out Candy's noodles. "Try that. It's DELICIOUS."

Ryouga chuckled and followed Riku's directions as everyone got their food and congregated in the living room to eat together. The small room was barely able to accomodate everybody, but Riku was extremely happy; his heart warming at the sight of so many people there that were helping him, helping PERSONA, attain their dreams. Candy, Paul, Hideki and Nao in the studios, Sayaka and Sae protecting them... Marilyn and shachou watching over them and the rest of the people here supporting them.

"I'm really happy all of you are here." Riku exclaimed, though not many people heard him since they were all talking amongst each other and eating. The ones that heard though, namely Paul and Sae, raised their drinks to him and called out their 'same here!'s.

"We're all really happy to be here too." Katsuyuki interjected, not wanting to be forgotten and feeling a little bit jealous of these people; these were all the people that got to hang out with Riku more often than him. And the rapport between Riku and the female members of the crowd-the beautiful Itano-san sat against Riku's leg comfortably-set Ryouga on edge and made him sit a bit closer to Riku.

"You alright?" Riku's question made Katsuyuki jump; he had been too focused on everyone around him to notice the object of his affection had turned his attention on to Ryouga.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Katsuyuki shrugged and ate nervously. It was... a strange experience. Usually at parties, he was the centre of attention and there was a definite hierarchy in the group with him being on top of the heap and everyone trying to please and entertain him. Plus, everyone was always half-way drunk to hell so there was no... intelligence in the conversations. Right now, it seemed like the battle for popularity was between Paul and Candy which was surprising, since one of the two barely talked. Or did she talk at all? Right now, they were embroiled in a conversation about Japanese politics and how it affected foreigners. How Candy contributed so much to the conversation was a mystery to everyone since she didn't seem to say a word... But it was eye-opening. Ryouga stayed quiet, not knowing how to give some meaningful input since he rarely paid any mind to news about foreigners.

Katsuyuki was about to relax when there was an angry scream from upstairs, heralded by footsteps pounding down the stairs and the soaking wet figure of one, Shinoda Mariko.

"That fiend completely soaked me!" Mariko screeched as everyone tried their hardest not to laugh. Their resolve broke completely when Kuu came down, his face smeared with lipstick and the words 'bakaaaaa' scribbled messily across his face.

"Look what that old woman did to me!" Kuu pointed at the wet model who managed a smirk. Candy had her mouth covered and looked completely blue in the face from trying not to laugh. Paul, Tomochin and Sae had no such restraints and were howling with laughter while pointing at the poor boy.

"Mariko..." Atsuko was dabbing at Mariko's face with some of the napkins Kai had passed her while clucking her tongue. "Aren't you older than all of us-"

"OLD AS BALLS!" Kuu sneered. Atsuko was barely able to hold Mariko back as the tall model lunged at Kuu.

"They're like... good friends, huh?" Hideki smiled at the display, prompting several pairs of eyes to look at him disbelievingly. "What? Seriously-"

"Seriously," Nao shook her head. "You're going to get killed."

"Gachapin!" To Atsuko, Mariko seemed to have degenerated to pre-school level with Kuu along for the ride, and the actress watched incredulously as the usually composed model called Kuu names. "Gachapin! Buck-toothed dinosaur!"

"YOU'RE THE DINOSAUR!" Kuu roared as Nao used a wet napkin to try to wipe Kuu's face of the lipstick. "YOU'RE THE DINOSAURRRR!"

"Why don't you try to say that to my face instead of behind your girlfriend?" Mariko taunted.

"Hold me back, Nao!" Kuu tried to duck around Nao, who had her arms out and was blocking Kuu from charging forward. "HOLD ME BACK!"

"Are they always like this?" Katsuyuki leaned in to ask Riku, revelling in this opportunity to be closer to the tallest member of Persona. The other young man smelled... really nice. Riku, unconsciously, leaned closer to Katsuyuki too so that the director of Sunny Music could actually FEEL the heat radiating from the other man's body.

"Always. But Hideki's right, they love each other." Riku chuckled, his breath tickling Katsuyuki's ear. The young director shivered, feeling his insides clench in pleasure and suddenly, he was doubled over and running off, muttering about going to the washroom. Marilyn had caught the exchange and studied Riku thoughtfully as he floundered on what to do before finally settling on setting his plate down to chase after Katsuyuki-san.

"Ryouga-san." The washroom was around a corner and out of the view of the crowd. Riku knocked on the door softly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Katsuyuki squeaked. He had his hands on the edges of the sink and was looking down at himself, disbelievingly. He was HARD. Like ragingly turned on! WHAT THE HELL! All from some BOY whispering in his ear? The very thought of Riku's breathy whisper made his entire body twitch.

"Nonononono!" Katsuyuki turned on the tap, cupping up cold water to splash on to his face, hoping that the cold would stop him from tenting and revealing to the world that he was a damned pervert! He wasn't gay he wasn't gay he WAS. NOT. GAY!

"Ryouga, are you sure you're alright?" Riku's voice made Katsuyuki shudder again. He WANTED Riku. Wanted him like he had never wanted anybody else.

"Could you open the door?" Riku leaned against the door, wondering if Ryouga had eaten something bad and wanting to see if he could help. "Do you need me to get you some water?"

Ryouga looked at the door, biting his lower lip in consternation. He really should stay away from Riku; he could see trouble coming from the clean-shaven young man. But... the young director found his hand drifting to the doorknob to let Riku in... he couldn't help it. In a second, Riku had slipped in and closed the door behind him and was now looking at Ryouga worriedly.

"Are you alright?"

Ryouga let out a tremulous sigh, turning his back to Riku to hide his embarassment. It didn't help him at all when Riku put a hand on his back and started rubbing in what the young idol thought was a soothing motion but was in actuality, NOT. HELPING. AT. ALL.

"Riku, Riku.." Ryouga squeaked out. "I... I'm fine."

"You sure?" Ryouga's voice prompted Riku to rub the director's back a little bit harder. "You feeling alright? Did you eat anything bad? Wait here, I'm gonna go get you some water-"

The sudden removal of Riku's hand on his back prompted Ryouga to spin and face Riku. The loss of the other young man's warmth was too much to bear and before Ryouga knew it-he had the young idol pressed up against the door, his arms pinned to his side.

"Ryouga-san?" Riku blinked, looking up at the director with a pretty blush on his face.

"Riku." Ryouga held on to the smaller man, pressed up against him, felt himself twitch again at their closeness. "May I kiss you?"

Riku froze at the request, not knowing what to say. Katsuyuki-Ryouga wanted to kiss him? But... but they were both guys. They shouldn't! But... did Ryouga guess at Riku's secret? Is this why...?

While Riku had his inner turmoil, time had past by excrutiatingly slow for Ryouga and he backed away, taking Riku's long silence for rejection.

"Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, I was just, you know you're so-" Ryouga's ramblings brought Riku back to the present and acting completely on impulse, Riku placed his hands on Ryouga's shoulders, stood up on his tiptoes and pecked a kiss on Ryouga's lips. It was a sweet, innocent kiss that sent a little thrill through Riku's girlish heart and managed to completely unhinge Ryouga. The director's hormones rushed through his brain and he found himself bringing up one hand to cup the back of Riku's neck to bring him closer, pressing the other man up against his body. It really was like being a teenager all over again as he pressed his tongue against Riku's mouth, triumphantly gaining entrance-causing Riku to immediately back off, their lips seperating with an audible pop.

"Ryouga..." Riku hid his face in the young director's shirt, his face bright red.

"Riku." Ryouga groaned, wanting to continue, pressing the smaller body against the door, pressing himself into Riku-

"What is that?" Riku winced. Something was poking against his leg and it was a tad uncomfortable.

"Uh," Ryouga immediately turned away, his previous amourous mood gone, replaced by mortification. "N-nothing. My phone. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Riku shrugged, trying hard not to stammer. He had been making out with Katsuyu-Ryouga! MAKING OUT! There had been tongue involved! WHAT WAS HE TO DO?

"I, um, gotta go out and see to the other guests." Riku hurriedly thought up an excuse to get away. He needed some space to think! "Will you... will you be alright in here?"

"I'm fine." Ryouga grunted, knowing he was not. He could NOT get out of the washroom in this state! "Um... but..."

"Yes?" Riku fidgetted nervously.

"Willyoubemyboyfriend?" Ryouga blurted out, his face heating up in horror as the words left his mouth. WHAT THE HELL WAS HE SAYING? It sounded like something he would've said in grade school! "Uh... I mean... I'm sorry! I just, don't know what came over me. You know? Lets just forget everything-"

"Yes."

"-and go back to.. being... what did you say?" Ryouga felt like his heart had stopped.

"Yes." Riku answered and flashed Ryouga a brilliant smile, before slipping away, out the door. Ryouga stood there, stunned. Then an exuberant look came on his face and he jumped in the air, punching one fist in the air in crazed joy. Unfortunately, Ryouga was pretty tall and he managed to punch through the ceiling.

"Shiiiiittttt..." Ryouga crouched down, cradling his hand, his excitement and arousal completely gone as pain completely took over his senses. He looked up at the hole he had punched in the ceiling, thankful he hadn't punched all the way through to the second floor and only managed to crack the surface a bit. He would have to reimburse Kamonohashi Agency for the damage he had caused. "Shiiiiiiittttt!"

Even though, he was in massive amounts of pain (did he break his hand?) and was cringing at the thought of facing Saeko, a goofy grin was plastered across Ryouga's face. Riku had said 'yes'.

'WHY DID I SAY YES?' Riku was freaking out quietly by himself. He had been so flattered and really, so blown away by the kiss... it had felt really good. REALLY good and made his insides all squiggly. But now, Jiro's face was in his head, crying tears of anger and grief. For some odd reason, Riku could also see Yuko in his head, on the floor of his mind lying on her side and running around in circles, 'whoop-whooping'-ing a la Three Stooges style. She was also crying profusedly while sobbing out "NYAN-NYAN!" at the same time.

'Why is she still an idiot in my head?' Riku frowned at the ridiculous image. The next image made him growl out loud as imaginary-Yuko started rubbing her face in imaginary-Asahi's boobs.

"Boob boob boob boob boob..." Imaginary-Yuko blubbered while smooshing imaginary-Asahi's breasts together and motorboating them.

"AAAARGGHHHH!" Riku stormed back into the living room in a foul mood. Kuu and Mariko, who had been fighting, froze, as did everyone else in the room.

"Stop fighting!" Riku snapped. "We have so much food here-we're supposed to be having fun!"

"Woah." Kuu backed off, letting Nao finally finish wiping his face free of lipstick while Mariko composed herself and accepted a drink from Tomochin. "Riku needs to cool down."

Kuu's muttering wasn't lost on Mariko, who had sat beside Kuu amiably, their rivalry forgotten.

"I know, right?" Mariko took a sip of her drink and leaned in. "What crawled up his ass?"

"I dunno." Kuu shrugged.

Tomochin, who was near by, snickered and leaned in to join the conversation. "Probably missing Yuko."

The three started giggling but stopped when Riku glared at them.

"I heard that!" Riku narrowed her eyes at them. "Don't make me throw all of you out."

Stomping over to sit with Hideki and Paul, he picked up his plate again and continued eating. Marilyn had put some music on and the house was filled with noise, people and good food. Riku's bad mood was slowly leeched away by the smiles around him and Kai's boisterous story-telling, with Hideki as his story-telling partner. It made him chuckle to see Atsuko sitting near Kai, laughing and smiling at the short blonde fondly.

Kuu, meanwhile, was being coddled by Nao while Mariko and he bickered over small things and Tomochin sat nearby and added fuel to the fire. The musically-talented Kuu looked carefree and happy through-out his verbal sparring with Mariko. Marilyn and Saeko were all love-love at the corner of the room and Riku expected them to duck out of the agency house pretty soon. They did look like they had appreciated this party, though. Sayaka was being chatted up by Paul while Sae and Candy seemed to be getting on just fine, non-verbally communicating by gestures. It was strange that she didn't really talk...

"Okay kids!" Marilyn clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. It seemed that Riku's guess about Marilyn and Saeko's ability to keep their hands off each other was correct as they announced they were leaving to 'rest'.

"Where's Katsuyuki-san?" Saeko looked around the room.

"He's in the washroom." Riku mentally patted himself on the back for not flushing red at the thought of the tall young director. The three members of Persona walked their shachou and Marilyn to the front door respectfully, feeling grateful to their management that had done so much to get them to where they need to be.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" The three chorused and bowed collectively. Saeko gave them all a tight smile and nodded, an unreadable expression in her eyes while Marilyn just smiled at them kindly and patted Kuu on the head.

"Don't stay up too late!" Saeko barked out some orders before she left. "And clean up afterwards!"

"OSU!" The boys kept their heads bowed until they heard the door click shut. Then, they scurried to the door, Riku's eye against the peephole and Kuu and Kai with their ears against the door to witness their management driving off.

"GONE!" They put the chain on the door, cheered and danced a celebratory dance. Of course they loved their management... but now they could relax!

"Gone?" Mariko appeared suddenly, causing the boys to jump a bit.

"GONE." Kuu repeated. From behind her back, Mariko brought out a large, dark bottle labelled 'Creme de Cassis'.

"Then I have something for us." Mariko grinned.

"Break out the glasses!" Tomochin appeared out of nowhere with glasses. "We're having CASSIS ORANGE!"

"What's that?" Riku blinked innocently at the bottle of liquor.

"It's alcohol." Sayaka supplied and scowled at the guests. "The boys are still underage-"

"Lighten up!" Tomochin patted the bodyguard's shoulder. "Come on! If you don't want them to drink that much, then you should help them drink!"

Mariko and Tomochin pulled a protesting Sayaka back into the main room, cups were brought out and the liquor mixed with orange juice. Within a few seconds, everyone-except for Riku-had a cup of cassis orange.

"How come I don't get one?" Riku pouted.

"Remember what happened last time?" Kai growled under his breath. Riku took a few seconds to think about it, then shuddered and opted to grab a glass of water.

"Kampai!" Everyone cheered and drank up. The drink was citrus-y but cloyingly sweet. Everyone was playing it safe and nursing their drink slowly, under Sayaka and sometimes Sae's watchful eye everyone except for Tomochin, that is. She was already finishing her second cup.

"Slow down-"

"Whateverrrr..." Tomochin rolled her eyes at Sayaka. "I'm not under-age and I'm not one of your boys."

"Tomochin gets a bit rowdy when she's drinking, huh?" Kuu giggled with Atsuko. Everyone was just having fun, with Mariko and Nao couch-bound and locked in some ferocious debate about one topic or another. Sae and Candy were laughing it up about god-knows-what and everyone was trying to avoid them... Kai was hanging out with Hideki and the two of them were snickering at Paul who was trying to chat Sayaka up. The tall bodyguard was too busy watching everyone to notice Paul's attempts at picking her up, though.

"Paul, Paul!" Kai finally pulled the New Zealander aside. "You should just give up you know? She has a boyfriend, already."

"WHAT?" Paul's face fell at the revelation, his expression showing how devastated and depressed he felt. "Sayaka has a boyfriend?"

"Who told you?" Sayaka had caught the tail end of what Paul had said and was blushing a dark scarlet. "Who told you that?"

"Hiro." Kai smirked, the cassis orange making him a bit braver than normal. "Your booooyfriend. Ooooo... here I thought Sayaka was all work and no play. But there's a different side to you!"

"There's a hidden side to everyone!" Tomochin had jumped in on the conversation, eyes a-gleaming. She had wanted the alcohol to loosen everybody's inhibitions but it seemed they needed more of a push. "Lets play a game!"

"What? How'd you jump to wanting to play a game?" Kai was flabbergasted at Tomochin's segway.

"Well, this game," Tomochin put a finger to her lips, looking decisively devilish. "Is like the American version of 'O-sama'. It's called truth or dare. But I have different rules."

"Woo!" Paul was suddenly not so depressed anymore. "Truth or Dare!"

"What are the rules?" Nao asked apprehensively. Everyone in the room had fallen silent and was focused on Tomochin. Katsuyuki-san, who had managed to compose himself in the washroom and was now back in the room, nudged Hideki.

"What's going on?" The young director asked.

"A game." Hideki nodded towards Tomochin. "She's explaining."

"-sit in a circle spin a bottle to decide who's the victim." Tomochin grinned lasciviously. "The person the bottle points to has to choose truth or dare. If after they've been given a dare or a question and they don't want to do it or answer it, they have to drink a shot of this," Tomochin pulled out a large bottle of aloe shochu from behind her back. "Extra punishment for being caught telling a lie during a 'truth' round. You get stuff written on your face if you're lying."

"How would you know?" Riku asked, frowning.

"Cross-examination is allowed if the answer isn't satisfactory!" Tomochin announced.

"Hold on," Kai held up a hand. "What if you just don't like our truth?"

"You can't handle our truth!" Kuu agreed.

"Oh-ho, don't worry about that." Tomochin chortled. "I'm really good at this game."

"She is." Atsuko sighed, remembering some of the times they had played this game with a large group of people. "Do you we really want to play?"

"Yes we really do." Mariko threw Kuu a challenging look. "Unless some people are afraid."

"I'M NOT AFRAID!" Kuu immediately announced and sat down, starting the circle. Everybody else took a seat too, all of them not wanting to be seen as afraid to play this game.

"Who's first?" Tomochin rubbed her hands together gleefully. Candy raised her hand immediately. Picking up the bottle, she spun it and it landed on Nao.

"Truth or Dare?" Tomochin asked, eyes bright and mischievous.

"Truth." Nao rolled her eyes. Candy tapped her chin with a finger thoughtfully, then she perked up, nudged Hideki and giggled.

"No." Hideki blushed to the tips of his ears. "No, you ask."

"Guys, just ask." Paul rolled his eyes, impatient. He was also feeling a bit grumpy that Sayaka had a boyfriend. Hideki and Candy kept pushing each other until Paul finally decided to ask for them.

"They want to know if you're dating Kuu." Paul folded his arms across his chest. The female tech raised an eyebrow at Hideki and Candy.

"No." Nao said carefully. "We're just really good friends."

"Who would believe someone with Nao's good tastes would date someone like THAT." Mariko said under her breath, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Kai and Riku's hand on Kuu's shoulder was the only thing stopping the young man from attacking Mariko right there and then. With the end of the first round of truth-or-dare; it had set a precedence. The reaction Kuu had shown was the marker set for the caliber of questions that should be put forth and the type of dares that one should dare someone to do. Something that causes a reaction.

"Okay, your turn, Kurokawa-san." Tomochin passed the bottle to Nao and the tech spun the bottle quickly. It landed on Tomochin.

"So, truth or dare-oh! Cop-out!" Sae complained as Tomochin took a shot of shochu.

"I'm thirsty." The glamorous hair-and-make-up artist grinned. She took the bottle and spun it on the floor, landing on Paul.

"Dare." Paul said smugly.

"I dare you to ask out the person that you like." Tomochin said quickly, now sipping her cassis orange drink. "Right now."

Paul's face had turned red, understanding quite well what Tomochin had said. His mouth flapped open and closed once or twice and finally he willed his face into a calm blankness. "_What? I don't understand, can you say that in English?_"

"Nice try." Tomochin narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll write the name of the person you like on your forehead if you don't do the dare NOW."

"_But she has a boyfriend already!_" Paul whined in English. Tomochin replied by pulling a sharpie out of her pocket.

Paul grumbled mutinously, his shoulders slumping. Recognizing he was beat, he turned to Sayaka with a bright red face. "Akimoto-san... would you... like to go out on a date?"

Sayaka was briefly caught unaware and floundered helplessly before finally bowing in apology.

"I'm sorry, I have someone else-"

"It's fine. I know." Paul slumped in his seat as Tomochin laughed uproariously. The beautiful woman was a devil when she was drunk! Everybody tried not to snicker at the blow to Paul's ego, but the musician caught the laughter and gave everyone a dirty look before spinning the bottle. Finally, it landed on one of the boys.

"Kuu." Paul raised an eyebrow at the man with the blue-streaked hair.

"Coward!" Mariko's cough into her fist sounded very much like 'coward'. In fact, everybody was pretty sure she wasn't coughing and just wanted to call Kuu a coward under the guise of her cough. Mariko threw a serene smile at Kuu in response to his murderous gaze.

"DARE." Kuu growled.

Being a foreigner and no stranger to the Truth or Dare game, Paul smirked, knowing of a good way to make this even more awkward. "I dare you to make out with Mariko."

Kuu and Mariko, who had been eyeing each other like rival pit bulls, now both stared at Paul in horror.

"NO." Mariko immediately put up both her arms in a large 'x'. "No. Nononononono. No."

"Well, one shot each, right?" Tomochin chuckled and was about to pour into the glasses she had set up when Kuu raised a hand to stop her.

"Seriously?" Kai leaned against Atsuko, scandalized that Kuu wasn't backing down.

"Are you scared?" Kuu's eyes glittered, a dangerous light in them, challenging Mariko. "Are YOU a coward?"

"I am not." Mariko scoffed. "I just don't want to be kissing Gachapin-"

"Afraid you'll like it?" Kuu raised an eyebrow, grinning roguishly. "Afraid I'll rock your world?"

"That's disgusting." Mariko shuddered, looking visibly repelled. "I would never-"

"Cowardddd..." Kuu continued his heckling, ignoring whatever reasons Mariko was giving. "COWARDDDDDD!"

Paul and Hideki joined in on Kuu's chanting and soon everyone was just watching Mariko and wondering what she would do.

"FINE!" Mariko hollered out above the chanting. Getting up fro her seat, she walked over to Kuu as Kai and Riku shuffled aside for the tall model.

"Wait wait wait," It was time for Kuu to freak out a bit as Mariko grabbed a hold of his shoulders. "You're actually going to-"

"What?" Mariko's gaze was intense. "Are YOU afraid?"

"KISS KISS KISS KISS!" Sae and Tomochin started the chant, which grew in volume as Nao looked on anxiously and with a little bit of jealousy.

"Are you afraid?" Mariko repeated huskliy, her body-language aggressive as she leaned forward, her other hand cupping Kuu's cheek.

"_Woah._" Paul nudged Hideki. "_This is so fucking hot._"

"OH MY GOD." Kai and Atsuko watched the scene in rapt attention.

"I'm not a coward!" Kuu did not like how this was turning out and decided to flip the tables again, surging up to claim Mariko's lips in a dominating kiss. Mariko was caught unawares for a few seconds, wilting underneath his attack before pushing back, her hands circling around Kuu's neck and pulling him in close, responding angrily.

"HOLY CRAP." Riku's eyes were popping out of his head at the display as the lip-locked individuals battled for dominance, their hands grasping at each other, looking like they were more in pain than actually enjoying the experience. It was a full-on make-out with the both of them heatedly duking it out with tongues and lips, hands traveling everywhere-

"That's enough!" Riku hollered as Kai and him had to pull Kuu off the tall model, their lips seperating with a audible 'pop'. Mariko had unzipped Kuu's hoodie and ripped it off him, the next to go seemed to be his shirt! Kuu's hands had also strayed, traveling up Mariko's short dress which was now hiked up, indecently high.

"Mariko!" Atsuko helped pull her friend's dress back down.

"I..." Kuu growled breathlessly. "Hate... YOU..."

"I... hate you... more!" Mariko snarled back. Atsuko was there to hold Mariko back as she tried to lunge at Kuu again.

"I don't know if they hate each other or love each other." Hideki leaned over to whisper to Paul.

"Okay, good job guys!" Tomochin cheered. "Your turn, Kuu!"

Kuu grabbed the bottle while everyone settled down. Hideki, Paul and Katsuyuki-san just had to pat him on the back for a job well done.

"Kuu." Nao sighed in exasperation as Kuu, once again, had lipstick smeared across his face as he wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

"She started it!" Kuu whined as Nao took a seat beside him and helped him wipe his face again.

"I don't know if Nao likes Kuu, or she's just having mother issues." Paul whispered to Hideki, who nodded.

"Little bit of both, maybe?" The techie supplied. "Maybe it's like this weird power mother/baby fetish. I saw on the internet-"

"We can both hear you two, you know?" Nao and Kuu barked at the two. Paul and Hideki immediately clammed up.

"Really, though, Kuu, you're like the ultimate player!" Riku grinned while Kai snickered quietly. Kuu, after the first few seconds of adrenaline rush, was feeling the soul-numbing mortification flooding his being as he tugged his hoodie back on and zipped it up to his chin. Embarassment turned to anger while he leaned forward to spin the bottle. He'd get them back for laughing at him!

His chance came sooner than he thought it would as the bottle slowed down and pointed towards... Candy.

"Truth?" Kuu raised an eyebrow at Candy. The Chinese woman rolled her eyes. "Dare, then."

Candy smiled and gave a thumbs-up. Things were getting interesting and she wanted to play!

"I dare you," Kuu fixed Riku with an evil look that boded no good for the de-facto leader of Persona.

"Hold on-"

"TO KISS RIKU FOR A WHOLE MINUTE!" Kuu grinned evilly. Nobody noticed, but the colour had drained completely from Katsuyuki-san's face.

"NO." Riku shook his head furiously. "NONONONONO. I refuse to!"

"Why not?" Kai asked, grinning as Riku floundered. "What's wrong with her?"

Candy also looked quite hurt from Riku's refusal and Riku-with the good upbringing mama and papa Wakamatsu had given him, was immediately contrite and eager to take back the blow to Candy's pride.

"There's nothing wrong with her!" Riku back-pedalled and was at Candy's side in a second. Nervously, he took her hands in his and glared at Kai and Kuu angrily, a look that promised that he would get them back for this later. While doing so, Riku failed to see Candy giving Kuu a thumbs-up. She schooled her face to a patently hurt one when Riku turned back to her.

"Okay," Riku smiled nervously at Candy. "I'm just, you know, a bit... shy."

"LAME." Paul booed.

"LAMEEEEE." Hideki agreed.

Sae laughed and added her two cents in. "LAMEASS!"

"LAME LAME LAME LAME!" Tomochin, Mariko, Kuu and Kai chanted. Nao just shook her head, seeing her co-workers acting like schoolchildren was hilarious but... sad. These were the people that were closest to her right now. She caught Maeda Atsuko's attention in the middle of an eye-roll.

'Children.' Atsuko mouthed. Nao nodded, sighing. Nobody noticed how unwell Katsuyuki-san looked at the sight of Riku holding Candy's hand. The Chinese drummer wasn't unattractive. In fact, he'd have to say she was very pretty. DANGEROUSLY PRETTY.

"Hold on," Katsuyuki-san's voice turned all eyes on him and he balked slightly. "Um... you guys are idols.. you... shouldn't be doing this."

"Well, it's just for fun-" Riku shrugged uncomfortably, realizing that the person he was dating was in the room and probably was having a problem with what Riku was going to do with Candy.

"Well, I don't know." Katsuyuki crossed his arms, feeling a little bit miffed and just a tad bit jealous.

"We're among friends." Mariko argued with Tomochin nodding beside her. "And from what I hear, you're really not one to talk. I heard rumours you had like, fifteen girls on the side."

"FIFTEEN?" The people in the room echoed the number, gaping at the young director. Riku narrowed his eyes at Ryouga's less-than-stellar romantic past, all guilt that he had felt before swept away.

"Well, shall we continue?" Riku's casual tone of voice belied how pissed he was at Ryouga.

"Timing!" Kai rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to expose his watch. "And... start!"

Candy made the first move, ducking in and kissing Riku shyly on the side of his face, making the taller young man giggle and shyly reciprocate.

"Awwww!" The girls in the room, plus two of the boys cooed.

"BOOO!" Hideki and Paul jeered.

"Uh, I mean," Kuu cleared his throat. "Kiss her like a real man!"

"Yeah!" Kai agreed hurriedly. "Do it like you mean it-ow!"

"Kai." Atsuko had pinched the blonde's leg lightly, scowling at him.

"Sorry, sorry." Kai muttered sheepishly.

"Stop, stop!" Riku giggled as Candy sprinkled little kisses all over his face. Candy, of course, wasn't listening and continued kissing Riku, laughing along with the taller young man.

"Andddd... that's one minute." Kai announced. "That was lame!"

"I thought that was very cute." Atsuko leaned her head against Kai's arm, looking up at him through her eyelashes. Neither Atsuko nor Kai noticed Tomochin watching them and frowning. As the bottle was spun a couple more times, Tomochin waited for it to land on Kai and finally, when it was Hideki's turn, it did.

"Truth or Dare?" Hideki grinned at the blonde, his eyes travelling from Kai to Atsuko, telling Kai if not exactly, but generally what kind of truth/dare he was going to be giving to Kai.

"Truth." Kai had seen what dares had done to his fellow bandmates.

"I have a good Truth question!" Tomochin's hand shot up in the air. Hideki looked over at her and shrugged.

"Knock yourself out."

"So the question is," Tomochin pinned Kai with a predatory look that did not make him feel the least bit at ease. "If you had to choose, right now, between Ray and Atsuko, who would you choose?"

The room went silent. Everybody knew, on some level, that Ray and Kai had a 'thing'. They all knew that Kai and Atsuko also had a 'thing'. Sooooo...

"Ano." Kai was panicking. Inside his head, a little mini-Kai was running around screaming in a panic as all eyes turned to him. "Um-um-um..."

"Well?" Tomochin was a lot more confrontational when she's had a few.

"Yeah." Atsuko was a little bit curious too. If it came down to it, who WOULD Kai choose if he was forced to make a choice? "Who would you choose?"

"Acchan." Kai squeaked out, Atsuko's voice prompting him to say her name. While happiness made Atsuko's eyes positively gleam, Tomochin was glowering at Kai. So he WAS just playing around with Ray!

"Really?" Paul rubbed his chin. "No offense, Maeda-san, but Ray's really sexy, ya know?"

"Sexy can't help you if your personality is less than desirable." Mariko, since her encounter with the songstress in Okinawa, delighted in trash-talking Japan's number one idol.

"Maeda-san is very popular as a tv actress," Katsuyuki supplied, the topic of talents and popularity well within his realm. "Either girls would boost his popularity."

Hideki nodded. "If the press knew that both Ray and Maeda Atsuko were sort of competing for Kai, Persona would reach a new level of popularity!"

Kai felt decidedly uncomfortable as the conversation turned into a little debate over which girl would make him more popular and he could tell Atsuko wasn't really liking this topic either. The popular faces of the entertainment industry understood that they were commodities to the public, to be talked about, idolized or sneered at. But talk like this still irked some of these stars, especially in a private setting.

"I like Acchan not because she's popular but because she's Acchan." Kai blurted out. "And I'd rather not have the press knowing about this." He gave everyone in the room a serious look. "I don't need that kind of press. Persona will get to the top without paparazzi fodder like this."

"Hear, hear!" Sae raised her glass in the air cheerfully, having drank a few glasses of cassis orange and decidedly more happy than usual. "But lets put this game on pause for a bit: washroom break!"

Sae scurried away to the washroom while a few people went back to the food table to grab more food or start on dessert. Tomochin, though, had slipped away and Kai caught a glimpse of her hair, turning into the kitchen.

"Be right back." Kai squeezed Atsuko's shoulder. "Could you get me some cream puffs before Sayaka takes them all?"

"Flavour?"

"Coffee, please."

"Go." Atsuko flicked Kai's ear affectionately before heading off to the food table. The blonde watched Atsuko for a few short seconds before heading off to the kitchen where she found Tomochin leaning against the sink, drinking a glass of water. The beautiful woman shot Kai a dirty look when she caught sight of him.

"Shouldn't you be sticking to your 'Acchan'?" Tomochin put down her glass of water carefully.

"Listen, don't tell Ray-"

"Why not?" Tomochin looked at him disdainfully. "Shouldn't she know that in a pinch, you'd choose Atsuko over her?"

"Listen," Kai sighed, brushing his hair back in a gesture of exasperation. "Aren't you Atsuko's friend too? I know you're batting on Ray's side, but shouldn't you be happy for her?"

"I am, but don't you see that you're two-timing scum?" Tomochin shot back, her words stabbing at Kai. "I was going to leave it, you know? Tomomi told me to just leave well enough alone but I can't. Ray's my friend. So's Atsuko. You've picked Atsuko, that's great and all... but what about Ray?"

"Ray... we're friends."

"She doesn't think that and you haven't told her that!" Tomochin snapped, her voice low so as not to draw attention. "She thinks you two are dating! From what I hear, you've been telling her you want to take it slow but what are you really doing?"

"I don't want this, alright?" Kai finally retorted, anger in his voice. "I never asked for this! I just don't want to hurt anyone!"

"Then just stick with one of them. Break up with Ray."

Kai blanched. "I can't do that right now."

"Why not?"

'Cuz she almost got raped recently and it'd be a shitty thing to do right now.' Kai thought.

"Because." He said simply, keeping his thoughts to himself.

Tomochin threw her hands up in the air in exasperation and tried to leave the kitchen but Kai grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her back.

"I'll do it in time, okay?" Kai sighed, knowing he'd have to. There was no future with Ray and if she knew his secret, he was sure she'd be really hurt that he had tricked her.

"I know you're trying to be a nice guy... but less trying and more doing, okay?" Tomochin patted his shoulder.

* * *

endnote: Not a very good chapter, I know... but we're trying here, right?


	29. Chapter 29

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 29

author's note: This one was fast, wasn't it? It was because I stuffed as much into this fic as possible. We meet one of my favourite AKB48 girls. Well, hope all of you enjoy it and thank you for the reviews. I do read them and some times when y'all make suggestions, they do hurry me up a bit. Thanks for the love!

* * *

"Otawa-san?" The psychiatrist smiled at the lolita who sat, fidgeting on a small one person couch across from her desk. "Is it alright if I call you Hinata?"

"That's fine." Hinata replied nervously. Lisa had called to remind her to go to her psychiatrist appointment and shachou had, in no uncertain terms, insisted that she kept the appointment.

"So I heard you tried to kill yourself on television. How's that working out for you?" The psychiatrist asked politely as if she was just asking Hinata about the weather.

"Well, I didn't." Hinata pouted. "And I'm fine now."

"Do you still feel like killing yourself?" The psychiatrist asked, not unkindly. Hinata blinked several times, wondering if this was how psychiatrists were supposed to talk to their clients.

"Um... no?"

"Well, I guess we're good here then, right?" The psychiatrist hummed and wrote on her pad of paper.

"I... guess?" Hinata was confused. After a few seconds of just sitting there in silence, she leaned forward to ask, "Shouldn't you be asking me about my apparent dependance on other people to provide me with self-confidence and self-worth?"

"Ohhhh... I don't know." The woman sitting on the other side of the desk shrugged. "Do you want to?"

"I do-oh. Oh hoho." Hinata narrowed her eyes at the psychiatrist. "You're good, Doctor."

"Please." Hinata's psychiatrist smiled warmly. "Call me Moeno. Now if you want to talk, you can talk here. I'm very good at keeping secrets."

"How good?" Hinata chewed on her bottom lip in consternation.

"The only person I'd be telling your secrets to would be my dog." Moeno reassured. "Even under threat of torture I'd keep your big, bad secrets."

"Is your dog a metaphor for a person?"

"No." Moeno picked up a heart-shaped photoframe from one of many photoframes on her desk and handed it over to Hinata. "That's my baby right there. Isn't he the absolute CUTEST?"

"He is!" Hinata cooed. The little dog in the picture with the adorable pink nose was dressed in a little suit with a bow tie and a little bowler hat with Moeno in the picture, kissing his little snout.

As Hinata had her first session with her new psychiatrist, a man in a black suit and tie sat outside, grumbling a little bit. As one of the conditions of his parole, Kuroda had to report to this psychiatrist and talk about his life, possibly get his anger under control. The police seemed to be watching them a bit more now and had arrested him in connection to some petty crime commited in TV Tohto. Some of his guys were still stuck somewhere in Japan's legal system and Kuroda was NOT happy about this and suspected someone had a hand in kicking them in front of the proverbial truck... as he had a prior record and a history of intimidating the hell out of his probation officers, he had been assigned to this unorthodox psychiatrist for help.

'As long as she doesn't talk about her dog the entire session again, I'm fine.' Kuroda groaned in his head. Last time, he had been forced to pick out outfits for the stupid dog and hadn't been allowed to leave until he'd settled on a frilly pink dress with a matching white bonnet. What had irked him was that Nito-san had nodded sagely at his choice and extolled "I seeeee..." loudly. Then had refused to explain to him what she had seen in his choice.

"What is taking them so long?" Kuroda muttered, glancing at his timepiece. He'd been sitting out and his appointment time had come and gone fifteen minutes ago!

'Better check if I have any messages...' Kuroda pulled out his cellphone just as the door to Nito's office opened.

"... same time next week?" A familiar girl came out of the office, followed by Nito Moeno cradling a picture of her dog. Kuroda immediately recognized the girl as the one he had saved from that pervert on a footbridge one night and it seemed, as she spotted him, that she didn't forget him either.

"AH!" Hinata jumped up and down gleefully, clapping her hands. "My prince!"

"Your... prince?" Moeno tried not to smirk at the darkly scowling yakuza. "Kuroda-san?"

"Kuro-nyan!" Hinata pounced on the older man, encircling his arm in a hug and at the same time managing to make up a silly name for him.

"Kuro-nyan?" Kuroda growled. Moeno burst out into laughter as Hinata continued watching him with a starstruck expression on her face. "Stop that."

"Kuro-nyan, it's fate!" Hinata insisted, then turned to Moeno. "He helped me when some pervert was trying to molest me!"

"Oh, what a gentleman!" Moeno was seriously impressed. Kuroda had really buried his heart deep somewhere, you had to to do the type of stuff Moeno guessed that he did for the Yakuza. But for him to save a girl from being molested... why, he had some pretty staunch morals!

"There's still hope for you, yet." Moeno patted Kuroda's shoulder.

"Stop that." Kuroda growled. Hinata grabbed his phone out of his hand, surprising the hell out of the yakuza and he gaped at the girl as he fiddled with his cellphone.

"Here!" Hinata handed the phone back to him before he could gather himself together and snatch it back from her. "Hinata put her contact details in your phone and took yours! We can mail each other whenever we want!"

"I'm not going to mail." Kuroda said firmly. He was blinded by a flash as Hinata clutched him close and got Moeno to take a picture of them with the camera on her phone.

"I'll send you the picture, Kuro-nyan! But I have to run off to meet my friends now! Lets go for dessert some time!" Hinata continued chattering excitedly, completely OVER THE MOON that she had bumped into her saviour again! "See you next time!"

The small hurricane of lace and silk was out the door and down the elevator in no time, leaving Kuroda to stand there, gaping at the door the loli had run out of.

"I'm not going to mail." Kuroda repeated, glaring at Moeno. The psychiatrist shrugged and smiled, tapping him on the nose.

"So, someone has-a-crush-on-you!" Moeno sing-songed. "Be nice to her, she's a good girl and she's going through some things."

"What things?" Kuroda, despite himself, was slightly interested. Possibly because he had put himself into the protector role and could not extract himself from it.

"Doctor-patient confidentiality Mr. Yakuza!" Moeno sing-songed. "Come on in, you're my last patient of the day before I have to leave; my baby needs his walkies."

As he was walking into the office, he glanced out the tinted windows and down to the ground where he could see the young lolita meeting up with two of her friends. They looked a little bit familiar... and as the loli reached out and playfully stole her friend's baseball cap, Kuroda felt his heart stop.

Kawachi Nami.

And, from the height of the other one... possibly Wakamatsu Asahi?

"Where do you think you're going?" Moeno grabbed his arm before he could rush off.

"Let go! I have to-"

"Chase after your little underage fan?" Moeno scowled at him. "She's so much younger than you. You should be ashamed. Come on, lets not waste any time and start your session. You're late, you know?"

"That wasn't my fault, you took forever!" Kuroda snapped, turning back towards the window frantically-to see that all three girls had disappeared. "Damn it, I've lost them!"

"Angerrrr..." Moeno rolled her eyes. "I see you haven't been trying to manage it."

* * *

"How was your session?" Nami put her baseball cap back on as they headed to the train station. They had to get back to the studio and continue recording!

"It was fine. I really like my psychiatrist!" Hinata gushed. Asahi and Nami wore their girl clothes today just because their male personas had become so recognized, it would've been hard for them to slip away to pick up Hinata.

"Did you see Kichin's new work?" Asahi asked slyly. Nami let a out a little snort and tried to cover it up, but Hinata had caught her little laugh.

"What?" Hinata looked between her friends. "What about Kichin?"

"This week's feature!" Asahi pointed out a book store they were passing that had a HUGE poster of Kuu and Mariko on their shop window. Mariko was lying on a white, fluffy bed, a white sheet loosely wrapped around her body to keep her decent. Her only covering seemed to be coming off though, and one hand was occupied in keeping the sheet up while her other hand was pinned down by a dastardly handsome Kuu. Both of them were looking heatedly at each other and though Nami and Asahi both knew that that was molten hatred reflected in their eyes, other people could mistake it for raging lust.

"AGHHH!" Hinata screamed, a sound of pure horror that echoed around the street, before trying to throw herself at the window and destroy the extremely embarassing image. 'Try' being the key word. Asahi and Nami had both latched on to Hinata to stop her from destroying private property.

"Who let those photos see the light of day?" Hinata screamed as Nami and Asahi dragged her away from the scene.

"Saeko signed off on it." Asahi explained. "She said the prints were great-Hinata, stop!"

"You should be happy, your photos are boosting sales of our single!" Nami tried to reason with Hinata, but there was no reasoning with her.

"I will not be paired up with that Dino-woman!"

"But at that party a few days ago..." Asahi was confused. Weren't they making out?  
"That was to prove a point!" Hinata snarled, her cheeks colouring. But mention of her make-out session with Mariko had visibly done something to her... it was like a punch in the gut. Hinata felt slightly ill even thinking about it. "Ugh. I feel sick."

"Girls!" A van pulled up with Sae hanging out the window. Sayaka pulled the side door open and waved them in. "Found you!"

"We were going to take the train." Asahi pouted as they piled in.

"What is wrong with you girls?" Sayaka snapped as she closed the door behind them. "Two of you are being chased by the Yakuza and you think it's all a game?"

"We just wanted to get Hinata from her first session." Nami replied sullenly, not reacting well to being yelled at.

"By giving us the slip?" Sayaka was trying to reign in her temper. They had been recording, than the two had decided they needed to go to the washroom. Sae had gone with them but had gotten distracted when Candy had gone to the washroom too and Sae had ended up chatting up the Chinese girl again. It had all been pre-arranged, of course and apparently, Candy had been VERY distracting. How distracting? Sae wouldn't say and only blushed and stammered when questioned. Expecting the girls in their male costumes, their bodyguards hadn't been looking for girls in the building and had missed them when they had slipped out.

"Saeko will KILL you two." Sayaka was trying really hard to keep her snarling to a minimum.

"We're sorry." Asahi apologized meekly, recognizing that they were indeed in the wrong. "But we really wanted to get Hinata... it was her first session."

"Please don't tell shachou." Hinata begged. "I'm sorry. It was my fault."

Sayaka looked at all three of them and even Nami looked slightly pleading.

"Don't worry, Sae already has that angle covered and we told the management we were going to pick up something for lunch." Sayaka finally sighed. She eeped as all three members hugged the tall, brooding bodyguard.

"Thank you, Sayaka!" The three squealed.

"Yeah, yeah." Sayaka grumbled good-naturedly. "Now change quickly; I got Hideki to buy us lunch. We have to eat it fast and then get back to work."

"Seriously, Sayaka, this is how you get into trouble." Sae shook her head. She had been with her friend on their last assignment and Sayaka had taken the fall for something stupid that wasn't her fault. Her employer had appreciated that but it had made Sayaka a laughingstock in their professional circle. She had fulfilled her role admirably, but at great personal cost to her reputation. Even with that lesson under her belt, Sayaka shrugged, turning so she was seated facing forward to give the girls some privacy as they changed into their boy clothes. With tinted windows and curtains drawn, nobody would be able to see the transformation.

Suddenly, there was a vibrating at Sayaka's feet that was soon accompanied by a ringtone.

"My phone!" Kai was struggling with a button-up shirt. He had dropped his cell while changing. "Sayaka, could you get that for me?"

The boyguard picked up the phone and looked at the call display.

"It's Ray."

"Oooooo!" Everybody in the car looked at Kai slyly, who just shrugged. It was an alarmingly emotionless gesture.

"Hang up."

It was also not something Kai would say. He would blubber, make some excuses and then text the Diva. This time, the response was unusually cold. After the phone stopped ringing and went to voicemail, Sayaka could see on the screen that Kai had a lot of unanswered texts and phone calls from the songstress. What was going on?  
"You're not taking her phone calls anymore?" Sayaka asked, astonished. She, like everyone else, had just assumed Kai was so gay for Ray.

"What?" Kuu bleated, as he slipped into a pair of adidas'. He was going for simple today and was just garbed in a blazer, t-shirt, jeans and a pair of runners.

"Yeah," Riku was looking quite clean cut in a pair of white jeans and a dark v-neck sweater. "What? You're not taking her calls?"

"I'm thinking of cutting it off for real." Kai mummbled, hoping nobody would hear him. Of course, everyone did.

"WHAT? YOU CAN'T!" Sae kept her eyes on the road but she SO wanted to crane her neck back and gape at Kai. "I agree with the guys at the party: Ray is definitely a better catch than Atsuko, no offense to her, of course, but Ray is... RAY! She's so damn popular right now and if SHE was your girlfriend-"

"I DIDN'T SAY YES TO HER BECAUSE SHE WAS POPULAR!" Kai shouted back, a little bit angry that Sae had not managed to only insult Atsuko, but Ray too, all in the same breath. "I DID IT BECAUSE I-I... she..."

"You what?" Riku asked, bewildered as he watched Kai lose all his hot air quickly.

"Okay, we know you're with Atsuko, but Ray doesn't know and you're only with Atsuko because you got yourself into that and had to fake it since you were caught coming out of her room at a suspicious time and got caught by her friends so Atsuko agreed to pretend to be your girlfriend." Sae continued on, unfazed by Kai's anger from before. "And you're with Ray because you don't want management to come down on you for not at least pretending to like the Diva. So if you're actually gonna break up with her, shachou's not going to be very happy since you're not making Ray happy-"

"Saeko doesn't control my personal life!" Kai was trying hard not to snarl. He knew his friends were just curious and worried about him, but he didn't want to talk about this. "I'm breaking up with her cuz I'm sick of playing this game, alright? I hate 'L's!"

Sae fell silent then, pursing her lips in displeasure.

"Kai..." Kuu put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Well, whatever you do, we'll support you, okay? You're our friend."

Kai smiled tensely. The thing he had with Ray definitely needed to end so after the party a few nights ago, Kai had started either ignoring Ray's mails or just giving one word replies to her mails. He didn't pick up her calls anymore and just let the phone ring out. Ray needed to find someone better than him, someone who could treat her well and not lie to her like Kai was doing. There was no future with the popular Kai from Persona. He was a dead end because Kai didn't exist and under the wig and the make-up was the very female Nami who Ray would never date if she found out exactly what was under all that false bravado.

'Tomochin was right.' Kai squashed any reservations he might have. He needed to make a decision and it was actually quite easy. During the party, he had squeaked out Atsuko's name because he knew she was safe. Atsuko knew about him-knew about Nami-and was still Kai's friend. Atsuko was the closest girl friend Nami had ever had and Kai knew he would be safe with her. Granted, it was still a bad situation since they were seen as 'dating' by her friends and Kai wasn't overly happy with that little lie... but neither was he eager to let go of that illusion since their relationship was a very physically affectionate one and the blonde secretly liked all the hugs and cuddling. He couldn't do that if they weren't fake-dating! Getting all this ready affection actually reminded him of his sisters and made him miss them a little bit less...

"Alright, move move move." Sae got out and opened the door for them. The three slipped out of the van and into the studio quickly, making it there without bumping into their shachou or her secretary. When they got to the studio they had booked, someone was waiting for them.

"Riku!" Katsuyuki had been chatting with their crew but quickly stood up when the three came into the recording studio.

"Ryouga-I mean, Katsuyuki-san." Riku corrected himself and bowed, his two other bandmates mimicking his gesture of respect.

"Boys." Katsuyuki nodded back at them, then gestured to a pile of take-out bento boxes. "I bumped into Hideki and decided to stop by and treat you guys to lunch."

"Woah, thanks Katsuyuki-san!" Kuu moved towards the food eagerly with Kai following closely on his heels. As everybody gravitated towards the table to choose a boxed lunch, Riku walked Katsuyuki to the exit of the room since he had to get back to work.

"I'll see you later or something?" Katsuyuki looked at his watch. He had already been gone far too long, but getting a glimpse of his... boyfriend... Katsuyuki still couldn't believe he actually had one!; was more important.

"Yeah." Riku nodded. "Did you eat yet?"

"Naw. I've got a couple of meetings so I'm just gonna skip."

Riku replied by running off to grab a boxed lunch and came back to shove it into the taller man's hands. "Take this and eat it."

"I don't have time..." Katsuyuki was backing out of the room, still arguing with Riku while waving good-bye to everyone else.

"Seriously-"

"Ryouga." Now, alone in the hallway, Riku cut the man a serious look. "Eat. Or else."

"Or else what?" Ryouga grinned, feeling mischeivous and bad. "I'll just have my usual cocktail of vitamin pills and stuff. It'll be fine-"

"Fine." Riku crossed his arms across his chest, blushing. "Then no kiss good-bye."

"I'LL EAT IT. I'LL EAT THE DAMNED BOX TOO." Katsuyuki's reply was immediate and intense.

"You don't have to eat the box too." Riku shook his head ruefully. Ryouga reminded him of Yuko just a little bit. Especially right now with his lips puckered out waiting for Riku's kiss, a pathetic expression on his face.

"Ecchi," Riku giggled, looking up and down the hallways, he shyly pecked a kiss on Ryouga's lips. "Go."

"One more." Katsuyuki pleaded, his spine tingling from the small kiss. How was it possible that this young man in front of him was able to reduce him to pathetically begging for another kiss? No woman had been able to do this to him, ever. "Please. PLEASE."

"No." Riku replied obstinately. "Go. You're gonna be late."

"Rikuuuuu..." Katsuyuki groaned out. "Don't leave me like this!"

"I'll see you later!" Riku waved at the young director and slipped back into the studio. Even though the younger man was such a tease, Ryouga had a huge grin on his face, Riku's lips giving him a big boost of energy.

"Alright." Ryouga looked down at the boxed lunch and grinned. "I guess I'll eat lunch."

Back in the room, everyone was relaxed and eating, talking quietly to each other. Kai's phone was buzzing in his pocket but he was ignoring it, knowing exactly who it would be.

"Kai, your phone's been ringing for a while." Paul pointed out.

"I know." The blonde replied gruffly. "Lets just ignore it."

Candy tapped his arm, trying to get his attention.

"I know it's ringing, Candy." Kai sighed. Candy continued tapping his arm insistently.

"What?" Kai asked, annoyed. The Chinese girl put her hands on her hips as if to say 'Don't use that tone of voice on me, mister!'

"Sorry." The blonde sighed. "What's up?"

She pointed to the window that let the soundboard room look into the studio... and saw Ray standing there waving at him excitedly.

'SHIT!' Kai thought as he managed a big fake grin.

"Kai...?" Sayaka was at Kai's side as he got up slowly from his seat on the floor. "Do you want me to escort her out?"

"I'll... be fine, Sayaka. Thanks." Kai smiled at the tall bodyguard. Sae, Riku and Kuu watched him leave as the rest of the people in the studio teased him loudly, not realizing that this might not end well.

When the blonde entered the control room, Ray immediately tried to envelope him in a hug.

"Kai!"

"Stop, Ray." Kai ducked away from Ray. The songstress smiled at the diminutive blonde, misreading him completely.

"It's fine, Kai. I don't care if everyone sees-"

"I care." Kai grumbled, blushing at Ray's words. Seeing that she had a little bag with her, Kai blinked at it curiously. "What's in the bag?"

"Oh!" Ray reached in and took out a couple of vitamin drinks and boxes of medicine. "I noticed you were a bit out of it when I've been mailing you so I thought maybe you were sick. It's bad to be sick when you're singing, Kai. I brought you some vitamin drinks to boost your immune system and some medicine."

Kai watched as Ray took out a whole bunch of medicine and drinks, displaying them on the soundboard. "The taste of this one is kinda weird, but it works really well. But this one tastes really good. I'll cook you some rice porridge tonight if-"

"No that's fine." Kai said hurriedly, then softened at the bright look on Ray's face. If only... if only Kai was a real man. A taller man. A man that Ray could depend on. Kai would treat her so well if he was a real man... maybe even love her as much as she seemed to want him to love her. But... since Kai was not a man and actually a girl named Nami, Nami knew that this was a stupid little fantasy and she needed to get this over with.

"You're really good to me, Ray. When you really, really shouldn't be." Kai said mournfully. This was... going to be harder than he thought. He had thought it was going to be easy, since he didn't care about her in THAT way, but Ray had still, surprisingly, squirmed her way into his heart. Even though Kai tried his best to deny it, the guilt and anxiety he was feeling told him he did care about her even if it was just a little.

"I love you, silly." Ray smiled at him, her face shining with adoration. "I want to do this and nobody's going to stop me."

The tall Diva reached out her hand to take Kai's, but he shied away from her touch. This was the first thing that clued Ray in... something was wrong.

"Kai?"

"Ray, we can't see each other like this anymore." Kai sighed.

"Well, I know I have work, but I've been working really hard lately and I deserve a little break, don't you think?" Ray reached out again but Kai walked out of her reach this time.

"No, Ray."

Ray didn't like the look on Kai's face and the smile she had, slowly lost some of it's enthusiasm.

"What's wrong, Kai?" Ray didn't understand why he wouldn't let her hold his hand. Did she do something to upset him?

"Are you feeling okay?" Kai suddenly changed the topic.

"What? Why wouldn't I be?" Ray asked quizzically.

"Because of the Keigo incident." Kai lowered his voice.

"Oh. That. No, I'm fine." Ray had already forgotten about that unpleasantness. Kai had managed to make her forget all about him when he came over the day after that incident. Kai had laughingly fed her cake when the Diva had claimed that it tasted better that way. And it had. Nothing made her feel better than a little TLC from her most favourite person.

The white creamy skin of the Diva's body now only had traces of yellow from the bruising Keigo had caused her, but she still wore a scarf to hide the bruising on her neck, which stood out quite a bit and was still quite alarming to look at.

"Alright. Ray... could you sit down?" Kai motioned to the couch in the room. The Diva did so obediently and patted the spot beside her.

"No, I'll stand." Kai wrung his hands nervously. It was better to get everything over with at once, like ripping off a bandaid. "Ray, what I'm trying to say is that we need to break up."

The look of stunned disbelief on Ray's face would've been funny if this whole situation was anything but dead serious. Kai thought he saw a look of intense pain on Ray's face, but that was gone in a heartbeat as if it had never been there. It too all of Kai's resolve to do this... but the blonde stood fast. It was for Ray's own good.

"You're Japan's top-selling artist, Ray." Kai said softly. "You can't be seen dating someone like me-"

"I told you I don't care about that!" Ray-the-Diva was out in full force, arms and legs crossed, glaring up at Kai. This was her way of subconsciously protecting herself and hiding the fact that what Kai had said had felt like a physical blow in the chest. Was this for real? The look of resolve on Kai's face told her it was.

"Well that's fine and all but maybe I care!" Kai shouted back. "Maybe I'm petty and I'm jealous of you!"

"You're lying. You're not like that." Ray was on her feet, this time she was able to grab on to Kai's hands. The blonde stilled under her touch. "My Kai isn't like that."

The short young man held Ray's hands delicately, as if they were fine porcelain. This would be the last time he would be able to touch the songstress like this and even though he was loath to admit it, he liked her touches.

"Fine. I'm just looking for an excuse to break up with you and wanted to let you down easy but whatever." Kai threw her hands away from his own callously and walked away from her. "I have someone else."

The second blow felt just as painful as the first and if Ray wasn't such a professional... she would've fallen to the ground from Kai's words. But Ray willed her legs to hold her up and looked at the back of the person she loved. Kai wouldn't hurt her like this. He wouldn't.

"No. I don't believe it."

"Believe what you want. But it's the truth." Kai said firmly, hoping his voice wasn't quavering.

"Is it Maeda?" Ray couldn't help asking angrily, a lump of bitterness in her throat. She should've never trusted that good-for-nothing-

"No." Kai didn't want to drag Atsuko into this. "Atsuko's just a friend."

"Did I do something wrong?" Ray hated the fact that her voice came out squeaky. She coughed lightly several times, trying to desperately pretend it was a cold or something that had tightened her throat like this.

"No, nonono." Kai cursed himself. Why not just say yes and be done with it! But he didn't want to hurt her like that. "I've... I just really like this person and after spending a lot of time with them... I-I realized that our feelings were mutual."

"Who is it?" Ray's eyes traveled to the window that seperated them from everybody else. It had to be the people he worked with.

"You don't need to know." Kai said desperately. This was not turning out quite the way he wanted.

"I refuse to accept this." Ray said calmly, gearing up for the fight. She had to do something. She had to do something, anything to keep Kai. She was Ray! NOBODY stole her man from under her nose!

"You don't get a choice, Ray." Kai backed away from the songstress as she approached, a forboding look on her face. "Ray, it's over."

"No, I refuse to accept this when I don't even know who my rival is." Ray announced, eyes narrowed to slits. Sayaka had been discreetly watching the whole scene pan out and when she saw Ray approaching Kai in such a seemingly threatening way, she had hurried to avert disaster. Bursting into the room, Sayaka was between the two of them in half a second, a wall in front of the smaller Kai.

"You?" Ray blinked at Sayaka, looking from Sayaka to Kai.

"I can deal with this, Sayaka." Kai put a hand on Sayaka's shoulder, but the bodyguard pushed it off patiently, her eyes still locked on Ray.

"Me." Sayaka crossed her arms. "He told you, right? I know it's hard, but you just have to accept it and walk away."

"Her?" Ray looked at Kai incredulously then looked down her nose scornfully at Sayaka. "She's a gorilla!"  
"HEY! She's not a gorilla!" Kai's hackles were sufficiently ruffled and he stepped in front of Sayaka. "It's like you haven't changed at all from the first time I met you-"

"Kai, I-" Ray could tell that the blonde was really angry now and tried to back-pedal, but the blonde was racing to defend his friend.

"I thought maybe my first impression of you was wrong, but I guess it's true." Kai couldn't stop running his mouth, knowing he was going to regret what he would say next. "You're just a horrible person that's gonna end up alone with no-one who cares about them."

Ray pressed her mouth into a thin line, schooling her face to an impassive mask, but Kai could still see that he had hit pretty deep.

"Ray, I'm sorry." Kai apologized immediately. "I didn't mean that."

"It's fine." Ray cleared her throat again and glared at Sayaka, transforming her embarassment to a more manageable anger. "I'll just... I have to go now. We'll talk later."

"Ray-"

"Later." Ray gave Kai a brief, panicked smile, wanting to escape. Today had gone horribly. Today was, of the horrible days she's had ever, possibly in the top five. "Please drink some of those vitamin drinks."

She was out the door before Kai could stop her.

"Talk went well?" Sayaka was confused. What had just happened.

"I think I bombed that one. Thanks to you, I think Ray thinks you're my girlfriend. Which works out for me..." Kai froze as he thought of something. "But not so well if Ray knows you're dating Hiro and she asks him."

"What? What?" Sayaka was utterly and completely confused.

* * *

She had gone back to her people in a rage, none of her bodyguards questioning her when she had said she was throwing out that day's schedule and wanted to go out to an izakaya. Appointments were cancelled, musicians that had been booked were told to go home, her personal assistant running from her in fear. Sarukawa heard Ray was having one of those days and had gone into hiding in his office. It had been a while since Ray had thrown such a huge fit but everyone remembered the protocol: run for the hills.

Only the bodyguards stayed to provide damage control and even THEY were calling for back-up. Hiro mailed Kai and Itano Tomomi immediately and only got a reply back from one of them when they were at an izakaya.

"Seriously?" Was the first thing that came across the phone when Hiro picked up Tomochin's call. "It's not even 2 yet!"

"Please come." Hiro begged. "I can't seem to reach Kai and she's started drinking already."

"You're lucky I'm finishing up now." Tomochin muttered. "Send me a car, I'll send you my location. What happened?"

"She went to see Kai, I think... then... I dunno." Hiro sneaked a peek back into the izakaya where Ray was the only one sitting at the bar with Dai, Masa and Mako trying to get her to slow down on the drinks. "She came back in a REALLY bad mood."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Well... I'll come as soon as I can." The line went dead with a click. Before going back in, Hiro checked his phone and noticed no reply from Kai but a message from Sayaka.

"Hm." Hiro opened it and frowned at the message.

_If Ray asks, I'm dating Kai. Will explain later, don't be mad, i still love you best._

Wheels started turning in Hiro's head, then his face went black with rage. Kai. Kai did something. Stalking back inside, he tapped Dai on the shoulder, knowing Itano would kill him if Masa or Mako went to get her and she had to sit through a whole car ride of them trying to get her to date them.

"Go get Itano." Hiro sent Dai the address Tomochin had sent him. "Quickly."

Dai was more than happy to go. Hiro slipped into the seat next to Ray as she started eating the bibimbap she ordered. It was practically RED with kimchi.

"Ray, maybe you should lay off-"

Ray didn't even need to say anything to get him to shut up as one look from her nearly made him shit his pants. So they all sat in silence as Ray ate and ate and drank and drank... it felt like forever before Tomochin got there.

"PUT THAT SPOON DOWN!" Tomochin ordered as she threw her coat and bags at one of the bodyguards.

"No." Ray was getting a little bit tipsy and held her spoon in a white-knuckled grip.

"I said drop it!" Tomochin wrestled with the drunk Diva before she let go of the spoon. "It's not the end of the world."

"It issssssss." Ray slurred, looking completely miserable. Tomochin snapped her fingers, getting the bodyguards' attention.

"Take her stuff, we're going home." Tomochin ordered Mako, then pointed at Masa, who had Tomochin's stuff in his arms. "Drop my stuff and I'll drop kick you."

"Oooo, sexy!" Masa grinned.

"Dai. Car." Tomochin rolled her eyes at Masa and kicked him in the shin for good measures as she passed him.

"Agh! Damnit, Tomochin!"

Ray struggled a bit, but Tomochin lead her firmly out of the restaurant and into the car Dai was driving. Hiro settled the bill then relieved Masa and Mako of duty and their armful of girls' stuff since the charismatic Diva was most likely going straight home and not leaving.

"She just kept kicking them back." Hiro said worriedly when he got into the front seat. Dai started driving as soon as all his passengers were in. "Usually when she's upset she does drink a bit but her max is five; this time she was drinking like a person dying of thirst."

"She BETTER not barf on me." Tomochin had an arm wrapped around her friend who was leaning heavily against the hair and make-up artist, completely knocked out.

Making sure that his charge was really asleep, Hiro confided in Tomochin. "I think Kai did something."

"Why would you say that?" Tomochin asked nervously.

"After talking to him, usually she's really good, you know?" Hiro sighed, then his face furrowed into a frown. "But this time, she came back and looked like she wanted to kill someone. Then my girlfriend messages and tells me that she's... ugh. I don't know. I'll have to call her later and get the details."

"Well, sounds like Kai broke up with Ray." Tomochin still had that nervous look on her face. "Lots of people break up."

"But they were so happy." Hiro tried to keep his voice down, not chancing that Ray might be awake and listening to their conversation. "Like this came out of nowhere."

"Maybe..." Tomochin licked her lower lip nervously. "Kai didn't like her in the first place and was playing her and decided to break up with her finally?"

Hiro turned around and looked at Tomomi suspiciously. "How did you come to this conclusion?"

"Because." Tomochin stilled as Ray fidgetted a little bit in her sleep, then started snoring a tiny bit. "Because I knew he was playing her. And I told Kai that the best thing he could do was break up with Ray."

"Why would you do that?" Hiro had turned in his seat and was glaring at Tomochin. "Ray was so happy!"

"She was being played!" Tomochin hissed. "Kai was dating Atsuko too-"

"He was not." Hiro said, but didn't look to sure of himself.

"He was. Is. I was there. I know." Tomochin hugged her friend closer and the Diva murmmured restlessly before continuing her slumber. "I don't want her to hurt later on and find out later."

"I..." Hiro just shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe Ray was really happy-"

"You're saying he should just continue dating the both of them and get two times the fun?"

"No." Hiro shook his head. "I'm saying that Ray should've gotten the choice. Things aren't all black and white, ya know?"

"So I shouldn't have said anything?" Tomochin asked, biting her lower lip. "She's my friend. I couldn't keep something like this from her."

"I don't know!" Hiro threw up his hands in frustration. Ray continued sleeping, blissfully unaware of the talk her one friend and her head bodyguard were having. Dai stayed quiet and drove them, without incident, back to Ray's condo.

"Wake up, Ray-bee." Tomochin shook Ray gently when the stopped at the front doors. The Diva stirred and opened her eyes, blinking at Tomochin blearily.

"Kai?" The lost look on her face was slightly heartbreaking.

"No. Come on, lets get you washed up." Tomochin helped Ray steady herself as she walked through the door of her condo. Not wanting even the doorman to see that she was feeling less than a hundred, Ray forced herself to concentrate on walking normally even though she was three sheets to the wind.

"Ma'am," The doorman and the concierge both bowed low to her, not noticing that the queen was drunk as a skunk. Hiro went up with them but stayed outside the penthouse suite to make a call to Sayaka and clear up whatever was going on first.

"I'll be right in." Hiro promised and shut the door, leaving Tomochin to help Ray struggle with her heels. When the Diva had finally gotten them off, she walked unsteadily into her living room and sat down on the white couch, looking around as if for the first time. Tomochin watched Ray slowly reach out to grab the clear glass vase in the middle of her coffee table. She turned the vase around and around in her hands, up-ending the water from it and the lilies that had been sitting in said vase.

"Ray-bee-"

With an angry scream, Ray chucked the glass vase across the room, not even staying still to watch it shatter to a million unfixable pieces against a wall. She upended her glass coffee table in a rage, this time pausing to watch it crash into pieces.

"Ray, no, not the tv!" Tomochin held Ray back as the Diva tried to rip the set from the wall. The noise had brought Hiro too and he was there by Tomochin's side in two steps, dragging Ray away from the television. She screamed and struggled against Hiro but was no match for the bodyguard's strength. In a couple of minutes she had tired herself out and rested listlessly against Hiro.

"Calm down Ray, come on." Hiro set her down carefully, mindful of the glass all over the floor. He watched Ray for a few moments but seeing that she seemed completely listless now, he passed her over to Tomochin. "Hold on to her? And please watch your feet. I'll go get a broom to clean this up."

Ray rested her head on Tomochin's shoulder, tired from her screaming, tired of these feelings that won't go away with massive amounts of chu-hi and bibimbap. The combination of those two things had always made her feel better... but she just wasn't feeling better. The alcohol intensified those unpleasant feelings inside her and now they rolled about like gigantic waves, threatening to engulf her completely. She'd only felt this once before, when her grandfather had died. It was worse, back then, crying alone, knowing he was gone forever and never coming back. The finality of it all was horrible.

Her emotions this time were a different kind of emotion, but they were still overwhelming. Ray was not the most... emotionally THERE person in the world. Hell, some would say she was emotionally-retarded. To actually feel something more complicated than scorn, anger, frustration and vicious happiness... it was hard for her to grasp why she had been thrown for such a loop.

"Kai broke up with me." Ray informed Tomochin hoarsely and laughed. "Me. He broke up with ME."

"I'm sorry." Tomochin apologized.

"It's not your fault." Ray shook her head, unaware of what Tomochin was really apologizing for. "He's dating a gorilla."

While Tomochin pondered that strange phrase, Ray was lost in her own thoughts. Just the thought of Kai being with someone else, laughing with them, eating with them, kissing them... doing other things-

"I'm gonna be sick." Ray broke out of Tomochin's encircling arms and ran for the toilet, barely getting there in time. As Ray hid herself in the washroom, Hiro had come back with a broom and a dustpan.

"Apparently, Kai tried to break up with Ray and Ray refused." Hiro shrugged his big shoulders. "Sayaka jumped in to help because she thought Kai needed it and in the confusion, Ray thinks Kai broke up with her because he's dating Sayaka. Which he didn't deny nor did he get a chance to because apparently Ray ran off."

"That idiot." Tomochin sighed, bending down to help Hiro collect the larger pieces of glass on the floor. They spent several minutes cleaning in silence, each wrapped in their own thoughts.

"Can you stay and watch her tonight?" Hiro winced in sympathy, Ray's purging wasn't quite muted by the washroom door. "I'll call the cleaning lady to come up early tomorrow and get anything we missed cleaning."

"I saw my schedule and I'm doing Ray's make-up and hair tomorrow. Shooting is at noon so we have to be out the door and at the station by 9am."

"Oh, right." Hiro remembered the schedule for tomorrow that Ray's PA-the second one in three months-had pushed into his hands hurriedly before running for it. "I was wondering how I was gonna get her to the studio. I'm so lucky you're here."

"I just hope she feels better tomorrow." Tomochin intoned glumly.

* * *

endnote: Long time coming, the break up. LOL. Ray is emotionally-retarded. So tell me what you all think about this. Like it, love it? See ya!


	30. Chapter 30

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 30

author's note: The aftermath. Ugh. Good luck, Ray!

* * *

"Why are you here?" Ray complained as Tomochin viciously ran a comb through Ray's head of hair, managing to cause the Diva all sorts of pain. Sitting in a robe, freshly showered sitting ramrod straight in front of her vanity; nothing seemed wrong with Ray, outwardly. But Tomochin couldn't help but feel as if... something was just not right. Usually when she looked at Ray, it was like... SEEING music when she looked at Ray. Ray was a beautiful piano concerto in A minor, soft and melodious, everything playing in flawless harmony. Most times Ray's music was cold and precise, masterfully manipulating people's feelings around her.

Always though, Tomochin could see the soft, warm song underneath, a song that was indescribably beautiful and uplifting hidden underneath a symphony of perfection. But right now, when Tomomi looked at Ray, all that music around the songstess was jarring and dissonant. There was an underlying sadness that resonated from her slender fingers and the slight down-turn of her lips. The Diva's eyes where Tomochin usually found that gentle soft song was replaced by a melancholy dirge that was unfathomable to the hair and make-up artist, but pulled at her inexorably.

"Because you would be lost without me." Tomochin said firmly, comb in one hand and hair dryer in the other. Tomochin had to admit she was feeling more than a little troubled seeing Ray like this. "And doing this now cuts down on the work I have to do when we get to the station."

Ray nodded mutely, falling into silence. Ray had tried to act like nothing was wrong in the morning, even laughing it off when Tomomi had asked. And to those that didn't know Ray, they might have bought the mask she put on for the world. But Itano Tomomi knew better. Ray didn't let many people in and she would deny having any friends... but Tomomi was indeed one of Ray's friends.

After getting Ray ready, Tomochin went to attend to herself. She had taken a shower the night before and borrowed some of Ray's night clothes, but she didn't have any clothes at Ray's apartment. The Diva had never extended an invitation to Tomochin to stay over, so this was the first time the hair and make-up artist had stayed there.

"Alright, you ready?" Tomochin had put on her own make up and did her own hair in record time. Surprisingly, she was fairly low-maintanence and didn't require mounds of make-up to complete her look. She was thankful that good genes have given her big eyes, a small face and a good complexion.

"I'm ready." Ray was resplendant in a long shirt belted at the waist with a braided leather belt coupled with skinny jeans and was going to go with a pair of knee-high leather high-heeled boots that would add even more inches on her already impressive height.

"What's that?" Tomochin's eyes settled on Ray's closed fist. The tall songstress opened up her hand, almost relunctantly to show Tomochin what was hidden inside her closed fingers. It looked like a child's hankerchief. "Where did you get that from?"

Ray shrugged. The songstress had found this hankerchief in the small nightstand beside her bed. She had forgotten about this handkerchief completely and had been digging around for some accessories when her fingers had closed around it. Remembering how it had calmed her down when she had been so frustrated and angry that one time, she had taken it on a whim and she found that the softness of the material soothed her just a little bit.

The sound of someone knocking at the door prevented Tomomi from asking any more questions of her friend.

"Come on Ray-bee, that must be Hiro."

It was indeed the head bodyguard, who bowed to them respectfully, a couple of breakfast wraps and starbucks beverages in his hands.

"Tea for Ray and a cappucino frapp for Tomochin." Hiro handed over the beverages and then lead the way. All three of the other bodyguards were there and with that many people, they had decided to grab the van. The car ride was quiet, with Ray nursing her drink and Tomochin glancing at her friend once in a while, worried for the songstress. Ray didn't notice that she was being scrutinized since she was trying to force her feelings to settle down, knowing she'd be seeing Kai at the recording.  
Music 10.

Persona had finally made it on the charts, one of the select ten. Though low on the scale, coming in at only number seven, it was still quite an accomplishment for them. Ray remembered when Kai had come over after the incident with Keigo and they had talked about everything, including his dream of making number one on Music 10 with his friends. He had been so passionate about it, Ray hadn't felt angry at all that what he was unknowingly implying was that he wanted to bump Ray off the charts.

When the songstress had teased him about being competition, Kai had flushed red, realizing what he was saying, then insisted that Ray would always be number one to him. He had been so sweet, feeding her each delicious tidbit of cake.

They arrived without incident and with staff leading the way to Ray's dressing room, people parted left and right for the Diva. Her sunglasses covered her eyes, hiding any and all emotions from the world. Only when, right in front of her, Kai and his friends appeared around a corner did she come to a halt. The boys had been embroiled in conversation but upon seeing the Diva, also stopped immediately.

"OSU!" Riku and Kuu greeted the songstress.

"Ray." Kai winced as the Diva's eyes rested on him, the heaviness of her gaze made his heart contract painfully, for some reason. He lowered his head when the songstress removed her sunglasses to look at him, distressed when he wouldn't meet her eyes. Hiro tried not to growl and only Sayaka's presence beside the boys stopped him from approaching Kai.

"Kai." Ray said softly. She felt like she couldn't breath. Why wouldn't he look at her? Was that damned tall gorilla so much better than her? She was about to go to him and ask exactly that when Tomochin suddenly grabbed the Diva's hand and charged forward. The young idol group squeezed themselves against the wall to let Ray and her entourage pass, Ray only getting to call out to the blonde one more time before she was swept away.

"What are you doing?" Ray snapped at her friend.

"Saving you from embarassing yourself in front of the entire world." Tomochin muttered back almost inaudibly, but Ray caught what she said. Then the singer noticed her assistants and helpers were all giving her looks and Ray quickly put her sunglasses back on. She didn't care if everybody knew she was head over heels for Kai, but Ray's pride wouldn't let them see that her and Kai were having problems.

"Give us five minutes," Tomochin told Ray's various helpers. Everybody stopped at the entrance to Ray's dressing room while the Diva and Tomochin went in. Tomomi closed and locked the door before turning to Ray, sighing at the look of abject vulnerability on the beautiful woman's face, even with her sunglasses on. Kai had broken something in Ray and Tomochin couldn't help but feel partly responsible... but no. It was for the Diva's own good.

"He wouldn't even look at me." Ray's shoulders slumped.

"Head high, Ray-bee." Tomomi put both hands on Ray's shoulders and shook her gently. "Come on. You're at the top of the charts. You're pop royalty."

Ray let out a weary sigh, not knowing what to say to that. She was pop royalty. She'd been top of the charts for FOREVER, her singles topping one after the other. Her newest one was set to come out soon, but... she just couldn't bring herself to care. She had always been career-oriented but now it all seemed frivolous and unimportant.

"Come on, Ray." Tomochin pleaded. "You can do this."

"Did you see how he wouldn't look at me?" Ray sat down in her chair, looking at herself in the mirror, noticing every little imperfection. They said that you were your own worst critic and for Ray, that held especially true. Was she not pretty enough? Was she such a horrible person that a gorilla was preferable to the Diva? She needed to talk to Kai. She had to. Their conversation yesterday was not the last thing she wanted to remember. She wanted Kai to tell her he had made a mistake. She would do anything.

"I'm fine." Ray could see Tomochin looking at her in the mirror, worried. "Call them in. Keep my manager away from me. I don't want to deal with him today."

"I do your hair, I'm not one of your PAs." Tomochin scoffed, but went off to relay what Ray said to her handlers. At Tomomi's okay, everybody streamed into Ray's room and she closed her eyes to block them from her sight, willing her mind to project an image of Kai across her eyelids. She had to talk to him. She had to make him see that they belonged together.

"Lets put on your stage make-up, alright? But look up, lets make your eyes a bit brighter." Ray opened her eyes and looked up, Tomochin dripped a couple of eyedrops in Ray's eyes before starting on Ray's face.

"Ano, Ray-san..." Ray glanced out of the corner of her eye at her personal assistant. She didn't quite remember this one's name, though they all seemed to look about the same. Small and scared. Ray motioned for the assistant to start talking and she hurriedly brought out a little tablet and started spouting off on what was going on at this recording and then her schedule for the rest of the day.

Ray would make sounds of affirmations to things she agreed to and cancelled some small things that Sarukawa had tried to squeeze in for her-like lunch dates or 'meetings' with kouhais-and had her PA read her schedule to her again before sending her off.

"Why do all your PAs look like they're running away from some horrible monster?" Tomochin joked.

"Because apparently I am a horrible monster." Ray winced, remembering how Kai had told her she would be lonely for the rest of her life.

"Heyheyhey, I don't have horrible monsters as friends." Tomochin smoothed foundation over Ray's face expertly. "You're just a tiny bit of a b-i-t-c-h."

Ray narrowed her eyes at her friend, but a little smile twitched up a corner of Ray's mouth. Tomochin's audacity was invigorating, sometimes.

"I want to talk to him." Ray said softly. Only Tomochin was close enough to hear her. "I can't believe he's dating his bodyguard... I have to talk to him."

"Maybe you should just let it go." Tomochin sighed as she carefully did Ray's eyeliner. The songstress was an excellent canvas for Tomochin to work on, was always so perfectly still, her face already a work of art without make-up so it was extremely easy to bring out Ray's natural beauty.

"I can't." Ray opened her eyes when she couldn't feel Tomochin working on her eyes any more. "I've never wanted anything more. He makes me happy."

"Why?" Tomochin asked harshly. It didn't make sense to her at all!

"I just do." Ray played with the handkerchief in her hands, silently thinking about how she would talk to Kai, determined to get her feelings across and have him explain to her why he was being so... so damn cruel.

She just couldn't fathom a time without Kai in her life.

She sat there quietly and closed her eyes, signalling that she didn't want to talk any more. She was ready pretty quickly and was ushered out to standby. As the person holding the number one spot on Music 10, she would be the last person to come out on the show and she would perform her number. She could hear other artists out there and her breath caught in her throat when Persona was introduced, hearing Kai's spirited calls out to the audience.

'Am I obsessed?' Ray questioned herself, feeling a little bit like she was floating. She knew she was, of course.

"Ray." Dai's gruff voice pulled her eyes upwards to look at the baby-faced bodyguard. His brows were furrowed in worry and he hesitantly held out a hand, palm out to the songstress. She held her hand up and pressed her hand against his, palm to palm.

"I'm fine." Ray lied. A commercial break signalled the end of the fifth song on the top ten list and she let her hand fall away from her bodyguard's. Of all her guards, Dai was the least afraid of her. He still held a respectful amount of fear but it irked Ray that the fear was more like how someone would fear an injured, angry animal. His fear was slightly pitying... but the Diva just couldn't bring herself to rebuke the gentle giant.

"Ray-san..." Her mousy assistant approached her timidly. "Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready." The assistant flinched at Ray's words, terror in her eyes as if she had done something terribly wrong and fled.

"What is wrong with people?" Ray muttered, seriously disturbed by how everyone around her was walking on eggshells. She pushed away her annoyance and concentrated on getting herself into character, centering herself and smoothing out her frayed nerves. Ray, the charismatic Diva needed to give the world her mask. She needed to make sure it was secure or else all the ugliness inside would come pouring out...

"Ray-san, you're on in five!" A production assistant came up and informed her nervously. She nodded, hearing the MCs' preamble before they would introduce her. She would sing her top single of the moment then sit in the interview with the rest of the chart-toppers.

Maybe she'll get to sit next to Kai.

Ray had the two bars introduction to walk out on stage, her eyes downcast, her persona in place. The spotlight was on her and the screams of the crowd, the applause overwhelmed her but it didn't fill her with the same sense of pride and accomplishment it used to. There was just this anticipation, this... need to see just that ONE pair of eyes on her in the room, but she was so afraid they won't be on her-

'Now or never.' Ray lifted her eyes up, momentarily blinded by the lights as her song exploded from her, raw and full of all the emotions she was feeling right now, feeling the crowd responding wildly to her. She was like the sun, suddenly breaking from dark, bleak clouds. Right at that moment, Ray shone for one person and one person only.

When the dark dots from the spotlights disappeared from her vision, Ray could see those beloved pair of eyes trained on her. Kai watched Ray with rapt attention, his brows furrowed and a look of resignation and sadness on his face.

'Why do you look like that?' Ray wondered as she spun her song out, singing better than she had ever sang on Music 10. Music 10 required no effort, her songs had been practised and could be performed flawlessly; every inflection, note and beat the same-the same song every time. But now, she used all of her skills to coax Kai to see her, to hear her, to open up to her. And as the charismatic Diva's song ensnared him, she saw him mouth the lyrics to her song distractedly, eyes locked with hers, lost in her music. Connecting with her through that line she had created between them, Ray could feel him slowly unfurl for her, like a flower in the light of the sun. The lines on Kai's face smoothed out and the icy barrier that he usually put up around Ray, melted away... she could practically feel the heat from the warm browns of his eyes.

And Ray saw it.

There it was.

There was something there, there was no mistake.

As her song came to a close, Ray could see Kai's eyes speedily icing over again, the spell Ray had cast dying with the last note from her voice. But the Diva had seen something there and knew that HE knew that she had seen it. Kai's lips were pursed into a thin line of displeasure but he was the first to stand up and applaud her as loudly as he was able to.

"That was just beautiful!" One of the MC's was actually weeping. Almost everybody that heard her sing were teary-eyed, some openly crying. The song wasn't one of her best since the lyrics had been butchered by Sarukawa's team of songwriters but she still controlled the melody. She could see Tomochin, standing off-camera, with a dumbstruck look on her face, gaping at her as Music 10 went on a commercial break, the live audience still screaming their approval of Ray's rendition of her number one song on the charts.

"That was a beautiful performance, Ray-san!" The MC's bowed low to the queen of the charts, offering up the coveted spot where the Number One in Music 10 sat. "Please, take a seat! Would you like anything to drink?"

As they fluttered around her, Ray only had eyes for one person, who let his eyes wander everywhere but Ray's general vicinity. The show went on, annoyingly slow and Ray sat patiently through it all, smiling to her audience, waiting impatiently for the show to end so she could get Kai somewhere alone and they could talk. By the end of the show, normally short on patience, she had worn out hers long time ago and was only able to keep up appearance because the camera was still rolling. As soon as they called out 'cut!', Ray was up and looking around for Kai, just to see him run off with his bandmates.

"They have some kind of publicity thing to do." Number four on the charts sidled up to Ray, offering the information in a friendly manner. "Ray-san, really, it's an honour to-"

"Thank you." Ray cut off whatever this person would say next. They held no interest to Ray so she really didn't register anything about the person besides the fact that they had given her the information she needed. "Excuse me."

Quickly, Ray was off, giving her fans an apologetic smile and a wave before rushing off, hearing them calling for her, hearing their moans of disappointment. She didn't care. She had to find Kai.

"Dai." Ray's bodyguards quickly fell into step around him. "Get the car. You," Her personal assistant flinched as Ray's eyes landed on her. "Cancel my appointments. Get Persona's schedule and tell me where they are."

"Ray-"

Ray gave Hiro a warning look and he immediately shut up, falling in step beside her. Tomochin still had work at the station, but she still followed doggedly at Ray's heels.

"Ray, you can't just keep cancelling and dropping everything-"

"Ha!" Ray let out a laugh and glared at Tomochin. No-one was going to stop her in this endeavour! "Who's going to stop me? Do I really have anything important today that can't be rescheduled? Am I meeting with Namie Amuro for a collaboration? Is the Prime Minister inviting me to tea? The Emperor?"

"The songwriters and your meeting with-"

"Can be rescheduled." Ray's voice allowed for no argument and Tomochin finally had to stop as Ray walked out of the building, her PA giving the location to where Persona could be found. A short, impromptu concert with hundreds of fans attending, then a handshake meet-and-greet.

Traffic was bad, so they got there right after the short concert, A long line-up was already forming for the handshake event and Ray grimaced from inside the car.

"Ray, I don't think-"

"I'll be fine. Stay in the car." Ray put her sunglasses on, grabbing a hat she kept in the car for when she wanted to travel incognito.

"Ma'am," Hiro had to put his foot down. Ray was a national treasure and if anything should happen to her, he would be hung out to dry. "Masa and Mako are going with you. The rest of us will be nearby."

Ray didn't even deign to answer, knowing that Hiro would insist, but managed to give Hiro a dark glare as she exited the confines of the car. With Masa and Mako flanking her and trying to be unobtrusive, she passed people in the line-up, walking all the way to the front but was stopped by Sae and Sayaka.

"Move." Ray ordered, knowing that they knew who she was.

"RAY!" The girl Ray had cut in front of squeaked noiselessly as she immediately recognized the tall songstress.

"The line up starts back there." Sayaka pointed to the back of the line. "I believe Sashihara-san was in front of you."

"She doesn't mind, right?" Ray turned around and flashed a brilliantly fake smile at Rino, who was momentarily blinded.

"Not at all!" Rino shook her head furiously. Ray! The charismatic Diva was talking to her! This was so awesome! She thought she would only get to see Persona today (which was fine because they were #1 in her eyes!) but to see Japan's top-selling artist... she could die!

"I'm sure other people mind if you try to cut in line!" Sae hollered out. There was a chorus of agreement from fans in the back who yelled out for Ray to get to the back of the line, unaware of who she was. Some closer to her might have been able to see through her disguise, but right now Ray was trying to cut and that was not fair!

"GET TO THE BACK!"

"BE FAIR!"

"We waited forever for this!"

Ray frowned, glaring at Sae, then Sayaka. That gorilla...! The Diva looked past the guards to see Riku and Kuu staring curiously at the commotion... but Kai kept his face averted from the scene, pretending not to notice.

"Get to the back, Ray-san." Sayaka said stiffly. The bodyguard was NOT going to let some spoiled princess stop her from doing her job! Standing there for a few moments and glaring at Sayaka defiantly, Ray finally walked away, slowly seething inside.

"Ray, maybe we should-"

"We'll line up." Ray walked all the way to the back, determined to see Kai.

"Wow!" Sashihara Rino shook hands with Riku first, extremely excited. "Ray AND Persona in one day! This is the best day ever!"

Riku smiled weakly at Rino. "For you, maybe. Ray can be... overwhelming some times. Glad to see you again, Sashihara."

"Glad to see you, Riku-san!" Sashihara bowed low and next one up was Kai who tried to grin despite how shaken he was by Ray's appearance. His heart was beating a mile a minute and he had seen, even if others could not, what was driving Ray. It hurt to see her like this.

"Sa-sSHI!" Kai greeted the wota, putting on a grin he felt was slightly fake. He truly was happy to see the head of their fanclub, but the feeling of guilt was eating away at him. He remembered the Diva's imploring eyes when she had sung on stage... her voice had stolen his breath, carried him off to be haphazardly sucked into the storm of her emotions, the very epicentre of it all. He had felt the wall he kept up torn away by the tornado that was Ray and knew that she had seen something. He didn't know what... he didn't want to know what she saw. He had to stay away from her.

"How've you been? We missed you!" Kai asked.

"I've been great, Kai-san!" Rino bowed so quickly and so low, she hit her head against the table, providing the blonde with some welcome comedic relief.

"Woah, don't hurt yourself." Kai chuckled, not unkindly while helping Rino up. "You okay?"

"I'm fine!" Rino's cheeks were red with embarassment, but she was in good cheer. "So you guys are friends? You guys and Ray, I mean!"

Kai's smile was pained and Kuu quickly dragged Rino away from Kai.

"It seems like forever since we last talked!" Kuu grinned at Rino. "Thanks for cheering us on all the time!"

"Yeah!" Rino clasped Kuu's hand in both of her own, Kuu was by far her favourite. "Oh, I'm going overseas for a bit. My family and I are taking a vacation in Guam for Christmas holidays since my dad finally got time off so I might not be able to come to any events during that time..."

"It's fine." Kuu grinned. "Have fun! Remember to show me pictures!"

"You mean..." Sashihara's eyes gleamed.

"Yeah." Kuu pouted and leaned in, lowering his voice. "Me giving you my keitai mail means you can message me from time to time. Don't be a stranger, eh?"

"Okay!" Rino was beside herself and almost close to tears again.

"Ma'am," One of the security guards smiled at Rino apologetically. "You're going to have to move on, you're holding up the line."

"Oh, of course." Rino nodded then leaned in closer to Kuu for one last word. "I'll send you pictures from Guam! Bye, Kuu!"

With that, Rino stumbled out of the handshake area, waving and calling out her good-byes to Riku and Kai. Meanwhile, Ray and her bodyguards had lined up in the very back and stood in line for hours, waiting and waiting until Ray could finally see the three boys of Persona, standing behind their table. Kai was grinning and thanking his fans when he caught sight of Ray and almost jumped out of his skin. He thought she had left! He didn't actually think that she would actually stand in line!

"Damnit!" Kai's muttered curse wasn't lost on Sayaka, who immediately scanned the line-up and located Ray and her hulking bodyguards, immediately.

Sayaka leaned in close to Kai. "Go."

"What?"

"Take a break. I'll get Marilyn to make up an excuse. Shachou might not like it but I'm sure she wouldn't want a scene."

Kai smiled gratefully up at Sayaka, then stepped back to talk to Riku and Kuu quickly. It wasn't that he wanted to disappoint his fans... but he knew if Ray came up, she would cause a scene. As he explained to Riku and Kuu quickly, he could see Marilyn coming up with a loudspeaker and informing everyone that Kai had to leave because of an earlier appointment.

"Ray, lets just go." Masa leaned down to whisper to his charge. Ray, however, took off her sunglasses, eyes trained on Kai's retreating back.

"KAI!" Other people had been calling for him too, but that clear, unmistakable voice made the blonde pause for just a second, before hurrying off.

"Is that... Ray?" Her voice hadn't attracted just the attention of the young idol, but also the attention of the people around her. She was Japan's number one selling idol and people were bound to recognize her. People around her had actually noticed right at the beginning that the woman being shadowed by the two big men had looked strikingly familiar, but with the sunglasses off, she was unmistakable.

"Ray!" Her name on the lips of these people around her was like a wave, the information spreading out quickly and eyes locking on her tall form.

"Ray." Mako and Masa provided a physical barrier around Ray as people started to surge towards Ray excitedly. Hiro and Dai had been watching from a distance and now tried to get to their charge in a hurry, but it was like fighting against a tsunami. Persona's security floundered, unsure of what to do. Their job was to watch the boys...

"Go help her!" Riku's voice pushed them into action and a couple of the hired security guards jumped into the fray, shouting for people to be respectful and to back off while Masa and Mako was finding it incredibly hard to move in any direction and take their charge to safety. Ray had her sunglasses and hat back on, realizing that she was in a spot of trouble, seeing only the crowd pressing in around her, Mako and Masa's back to her, trying to shield her from the crowds... she couldn't breath...

A hand shot up from ground-level and pulled her down, suddenly creating more room and an open path amongst the legs. Ray could breath again. It was a girl in a zip-up hoodie, shorts and running shoes. The mystery girl was unzipping said hoodie and throwing it over Ray, the flurry of activity around her preventing Ray from taking a closer look at this person.

"Sunglasses and hats are good disguises, but only when you keep them on!" The girl growled and pulled Ray by the hand, out through the squash of people. The girl in front of her navigated between and past the legs of people effortlessly, clearing the crowd in record time. Instead of sticking around, though, the girl pulled Ray with her, running out of the venue, hoping that they hadn't attracted attention but not risking it. They ran and ran until they were far away from the mob, finally stopping so Ray and the mystery girl could take a breather.

"Stupid..." The girl was huffing. "You... coulda... been in some... real trouble!"

"I wanted to see... Kai..." Ray was going to snap back but she lost all ability to talk as the girl in front of her took her breath away. Now, without the hoodie, Ray could see this girl was in a v-neck t-shirt that hugged her waist and accentuated what little chest she had. What Ray could see of the girl's legs in the long shorts was smooth and white, like fine marble. From the softness of her lips, the fine angles of her face, to her long brown tresses tied up in a ponytail, balanced out by the spirit in this girl's eyes... this young woman in front of her was utterly, devestatingly beautiful to Ray.

"Putting yourself at risk like that isn't what Kai would want!" The not-so-mysterious girl replied angrily.

"Well, everything turned out okay. I have my knight in... a hoodie?" Ray hugged the hoodie closer to her, the smell was so familiar and so comforting...

"I might not be here all the time." The girl wiped at her own forehead, having broken into a bit of a sweat from the run.

"Oh, here." Ray took out her handkerchief and started to dab at her saviour's forehead, just happy to be in her presence-

"Hey!" The girl grabbed her hand, looking at the handkerchief in the Diva's grasp in wonder. "My handkerchief! I thought I'd lost it forever!"

"This is yours?" Ray looked at the tiny piece of cloth in her hand, remembering how someone had stumbled into the room she was hiding in and cheered her up considerably. Nami. It was fate. It was definitely fate. Ray hadn't made the connection before, but now, it floored her how so many coincidences happened... if the world kept on throwing them together, they were meant to be, right? "Nami?"

"How'd you know my name?" Nami was instantly nervous. Did Ray know?

"Your handkerchief." Ray held her hand open. "Remember? When you gave it to me in that room that day."

"Oh." Nami flushed red as she remembered the encounter with the girl crying in the room who had accepted her handkerchief. "Oh my god. I thought you were some random girl auditioning!"

"Yes. You did." Ray looked at Kai-no, Nami in amusement.

"That was the first time we met, huh?" Nami sighed, looking at Ray with a rueful smile on her face. With Nami in her girl persona, Ray could tell that the small girl thought Ray was fooled by her change of identity and decided to play along. The Diva didn't want to see the sullen, closed off Kai, right now. She couldn't bear it.

"So since I've last seen you, how have you been?" Ray asked impishly. "Are you working in the industry right now?"

"Yeah, I'm, uh, with a good group of people." Nami replied nervously, realizing she was getting into dangerous territory with Ray. "Um, how about you? Are you doing alright?"

Ray was about to reply, but her phone suddenly rang. She would've loved to ignore it, but she could see the phonecall was from Hiro and it was best that he knew she was safe.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" Hiro's worried voice could be heard by Nami.

"I'm fine. I had some help escaping. I'll call you when I need you to pick me up."

"Ray-"

"It's fine, Hiro." Ray's tone of voice, the sound of content and happiness gave Hiro pause. "I'll be fine. I'll call you later to pick me up, okay?"

Against his better judgement, Hiro sighed in resignation. Ray rarely ASKED. She ordered, but she rarely asked. "Fine. Please be safe, okay? Could you tell me at least where you are? Like the general vicinity?"

Ray quickly gave the overprotective guard the name of the area she was in then hung up, so she could get back to Nami.

"I'm hungry. Do you want to eat?"

The change of subject caught Nami off-guard and she shook her head apologetically.

"Um, I have to get back to work-"

"But I have to repay you for saving me." Ray pouted, knowing exactly how to manipulate the situation to get what she wanted. And she wanted more time to get to know this other side of Kai, the girl underneath the blonde hair that Ray could see now was most likely a wig. Kawachi Nami. "Give me the number of your management, I'll tell them Ray, the charismatic Diva needs to keep you for an important meeting."

"NO!" Nami nearly wet herself in horror. If Ray knew Saeko was her manager and EVERYONE knew Saeko was only fronting Persona, Ray would be able to make the connection! "I mean, no. It's fine. I'll just tell them... something."

"No, no. We can meet your manager and I'll explain everything."

"No, I'll call her now! I'll call her! Just wait!"

Ray watched, pleased, as Nami quickly called Saeko and explained the situation to her manager, then hung up and faced Ray with a nervous grin.

"I know a small ramen shop nearby. The place is pretty good and round this time, there aren't many people there." Nami reached up and helped Ray put on the hood of her hoodie securely. Nami had unknowingly become used to Ray's small gestures of affection. Spoon-feeding cake to Ray, teaching the Diva how to swim while they were in Okinawa, holding hands and hanging out with Asahi's family... Nami was used to having the beautiful singer around her and she hadn't even thought about it when she invaded the Diva's personal space.

"Keep your hood up. I can't believe you... you could've gotten mobbed, you know. What the hell were you doing at a Persona event?" Nami muttered.

"Did you hear me?" Ray asked softly. Taking a risk, the Diva hooked her arm in Nami's and felt the small girl freeze a bit before continuing walking.

'We're both girls. It's fine. It's like with Atsuko. Girls are touchy-feely like this.' Nami tried to smooth her nerves down, trying to ignore how warm Ray was.

"I heard you shout for him." Nami shook her head. "I didn't know you were a Kai fan."

"I'm not only a fan, we're going out." Ray found it so strange to be talking to Nami about Kai as if they were two different people.

"I-I see." Nami blushed profusedly. "Then why didn't he talk to you?"

"He wants to break up." Ray's voice was determined. "I don't accept that."

'There is no NO ACCEPTING!' Nami thought, amazed at how stubborn Ray could be. 'When someone breaks up with you, you have no say!'

"He most likely heard you calling for him. I saw him stop a bit then continue off stage. A guy like that, well, he's pretty heartless if he's ignoring you." Nami pointed out, trying to get Ray to just HATE Kai even though the thought of Ray hating him-hating HER... didn't sit too well with Nami.

"No, we're just going through a bit of a rough patch." Ray didn't like where their conversation was headed and decided to change the subject. "Is the place we're going to any good?"

"IS IT?" Nami grinned, reminding Ray so much of Kai. "It's some of the best ramen you will EVER taste."

"Ever?"

"EVER. My younger sisters loves this place." Nami walked a little bit faster, remembering how good the ramen was. "Lets go!"

It was easy to hang out with Ray, without all the bullshit. Nami realized this as they sat in a tiny out of the way booth so customers wouldn't see Ray. Ray was... Ray. And Nami didn't feel the pressure of keeping up appearances, she was a lot more relaxed instead of on guard for Ray's advances.

"Milk ramen?" Ray's eyes bugged out at the menu and Nami chuckled lowly.

"Get that. I'm getting the negi ramen."

"No, milk ramen sounds weird."

"It's so good. If you can't eat it, I'll eat it." The hungry gleam in Nami's eyes made Ray laugh a bit and she did order that ramen when the server came to take their order.

"Do you come here with your sisters a lot?" Ray sat across from Nami, feeling completely at ease with the shorter woman. Nami's fond smile at the mention of her sisters made Ray's heart skip a beat.

"Well, E-Eri and... M... Momo love this place." Nami almost said her sisters' names!

"Are you sure those are their names?" Ray asked wryly, catching Nami stumbling on Erena's name. Should Ray just tell Nami that she knew the short girl was Kai? "You seem to be having problems recalling who your sisters are."

"Eri and Momo. It just... slipped my mind a bit." Nami took a drink of water, trying to cover up how flustered she was.

"ERI and MOMO must be heartbroken to know that they're so easily forgotten." Ray remembered Nami's adorable little sisters, Erena and Miho. Ray could just imagine the three sisters sitting here slurping up noodles together happily.

"No!" Nami pouted defensively. "They know I love them!"

"You must care about them a lot." Ray had remembered how different Nami was around her sisters. The love Nami felt for them radiated off of her and was apparent to anyone who bothered to look.

"They can be a handful, but yeah." Nami said gruffly, holding up the handkerchief that Ray had returned to her. "This was from E-Eri. She stitched my name in and gave it to me for my thirteenth birthday. She was a baby back then but look at this, it's really well done, isn't it? Of course, Ma helped her but it was mostly her."

"It's beautiful." Like you. Ray wanted to add, but didn't want to scare Nami away as the girl-who-was-Kai held out the handkerchief and pointed out the way the 'a' in 'Nami' had been stitched with such care. Ray took this opportunity to touch Nami's hand, under the excuse of taking a look at the handkerchief. Ray delighted in the fact that while Kai might've shied away, Nami let Ray caress and hold her hand.

"Feel how soft it is." Nami encouraged Ray to touch the handkerchief. "My youngest sister, not to be outdone by Eri, decided to buy me a tub of icecream and also give me gift certificates to yoshinoya she had been saving up. Of course, she couldn't resist and pigged out on the icecream so I only had half a tub of icecream left."

Ray laughed, imagining a slightly pudgier and smaller Miho with icecream all over her face, trying to give Nami her gift. The server came back with their orders and Nami urged the songstress to eat the noodles in the creamy soup base.

"It's," Ray, after taking a tentative taste, blinked in surprise. "really, really good!"

"See?" Nami crowed triumphantly. "Try the green gyozas too. They're even BETTER!"

Talking animatedly, they ate their food until there wasn't anything left.

"So you cancelled all your appointments again for the day?" Nami chuckled, taking a drink of water. It hadn't occured to Nami that she was talking to Ray as if they had known each other forever. "Ray, really. This could probably hurt your career."

"I don't think so," Ray sniffed. "My manager keeps trying to get me to change my songs. I don't know why I should sacrifice the quality of songs I produce because Sarukawa-shachou thinks the songwriters he brings in can help me sell more. It's slightly insulting. And their lyrics are stupid."

"They can't be that bad-"

"How's 'oh baby you feature in my liquid dreams, it's like you're deep in my secret wet spot'-"

"Stop." Nami held up a hand, making a face. "Don't let them EVER make you sing that. Ew. The music is good but the lyrics... bleah."

"I composed the music." Ray let out a frustrated sigh. "And I had lyrics to match. I felt it was missing some 'oomph' so Sarukawa-shachou decided to take the initiative and hire dumb people. If they were smart, maybe I wouldn't have such a problem with them. If my manager was smart, he wouldn't have hired them. But now he'll just have to learn the hard way because I'm sure he's still paying them for the time even when I'm not there."

"What do you have?" Nami asked curiously. Ray smiled at Nami, the only warning she got, before Ray started singing. Like at the Music 10 recording, it took Nami's breath away and completely wrapped her in its spell. The small girl closed her eyes and concentrated more on the words than on the music, trying to really figure out what Ray could do with the song...

"I'm noticing that your chorus is like, sung really fast. It pulls people in and it's catchy, but..." Nami licked her lips nervously after Ray finished her little rendition. For Nami, giving Ray pointers on music made her feel like an old woman on a one-speed bicycle telling an F1 driver how to drive. Nami really felt like she was an amateur compared to Ray, but she really wanted to help the songstress. "What about in the middle, you slow it down, stretch it out. It'll pace the song better and instead of using these words," Nami tried to sing what she meant, "Like that? Does it make sense?"

Ray nodded, actually knowing perfectly what Nami was saying and thinking it might work out quite well.

"I'll try that."

"Don't do it just because you don't want to hurt my feelings, though."

"Trust me, I take my music seriously." Ray reassured. "If it's not good, I won't use it."

"Thanks, I guess?" Nami laughed. She was completely at ease around Ray, being completely herself and not her persona was what made the difference. There was no need to uphold her fake-image and she felt no pressure at all. Nami wasn't Kai and Kai didn't have to lie to Ray. "So I guess you're not skipping just because you're being... well, the Diva."

Ray narrowed her eyes playfully. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That means you're difficult some times." Nami laughed and quickly back-tracked when she saw the fake look of hurt on Ray's face. "But some times, it's worth it."

"Worth it?"

Nami kept thinking about how Ray would insist on holding Kai's hand. It embarassed Kai, but he had felt grumpily happy that this tall, beautiful woman wanted to be around him all the time. It made him feel special, even though he knew he was not.

"Yeah. You're not that bad sometimes." Nami grinned at Ray's pout.

"Anyways, if you hadn't been there today to save me today, I don't know what would've happened." Ray thanked Nami again. It had been a little bit frightening to be stranded in a sea of people trying to touch her, though Ray didn't want to admit it.

"You gotta be more careful." Nami said, trying not to frown at Ray. Nami had done a quick change into her girl clothes-per Saeko's instructions to avoid the crowds-and just came around to the front to make sure things had been alright since she had heard yelling. Seeing Ray about to be swallowed by the crowds had made her heart stop with fear. Nami had gotten on her hands and knees and speed-crawled to Ray. "I don't wanna think about what would've happened if things had been different."

"Well, I'm glad you were here today." Ray smiled and placed her hand over Nami's. "Maybe we could, I don't know... hang out more?"

"Ah." Nami retracted her hand slowly, feeling slightly weird. It felt like things hadn't changed between her and Ray at all. But... she was a girl, a different person. A girl! But it was still so... confusing with Ray. Like nothing had changed at all.

"I don't know if that's possible." Nami mummbled. She couldn't be around Ray all the time. It wasn't good for either of them. And for Nami... why was it so confusing to be around Ray? Just looking at the Diva brought up a mess of emotions inside of her, but there was also a part that was so clear and real revealed. Nami couldn't look at that part though. She just couldn't. "I'm really busy with... stuff."

"We could still meet." Ray offered, hating that she sounded like she was begging. But she was begging. Ray had thought about it, thought about actually seeing Nami and not Kai... would the Diva still like the person underneath? Ray had thought she absolutely would, one hundred and ten percent. But now she knew for sure. Kai or Nami, Ray loved this person in front of her.

"I have work. I shouldn't even be here, Ray." Nami was afraid of Ray and all the stuff she brought with her. It was so much easier without Ray. There wasn't that huge... THING hovering just over her shoulder, that thing that was so crystal clear for her to see but Nami just DIDN'T want to see it. "You have to take care of yourself, alright? I just... have work."

Nami pulled out a few thousand yen bills from her shorts and put them on the table. "I got this, okay? Don't go do anything stupid. Call your bodyguards to come get you."

"Nami," Ray called after the smaller girl, desperate to have her stay. "Could I ask you a question?"

Nami came back to the table patiently. As Kai, she felt guilty for ignoring Ray, but she had to do it. As Nami, she could be nicer.

"Yes, Ray?"

"Do you think Kai would really break up with me?" Ray looked up at Nami, dreading the answer. "Why would he do that?"

"Ray..." Nami didn't want to hurt Ray, but it didn't seem like she was getting the hint. "Maybe he just doesn't have time, you know? He has a lot of things to do and he's trying to reach for his dreams. He can't just... throw everything down and risk being distracted."

"I would support him-"

"His bandmates support him." Nami shook her head. "Maybe you should just forget about him, Ray. You're... beautiful. You're Ray the charismatic Diva. You're talented, passionate, smart and funny."

"Funny?"

"Funny." Nami teased. Ray pouted up at Nami.

"You could get someone ten times better than him, hell, you can get whoever you want." Nami knew that any guy would kill for the songstress. "Kai's nothing special."

"Don't say that about Kai!" Ray couldn't stand it, wouldn't let anybody, not even Nami, talk bad about the person she loved. "He might not be anybody special to you or anyone else but he makes me feel like I'm... I'm better than I've ever been. He's one in a million to you, but for me, there's only one Kai in the world and he's the only one I want."

Nami was honestly touched by how highly Ray thought of Kai. But... Kai wasn't real.

"Forget about him, Ray. Seriously. That's the only advice I can give you." Nami and Ray's hands had unconsciously found each other's again and Nami looked at their entwined fingers, wonderingly. It felt really good to be holding Ray's hands.

"I'm not gonna be around to save you again, Ray. Take care." Regretfully, Nami pulled away from Ray and walked out of the restaurant. The Diva sat there, angry and lost. She wasn't going to let Kai just go like that. Taking out her phone, she found the number she wanted and dialed it.

The line connected within a few rings and a voice answered her cheerfully. "Good afternoon, boss."

"Good afternoon, little mouse. I have a weekend assignment for you, if you're not too busy." Nami had forgotten her hoodie with Ray, and the songstress wrapped it around herself tightly, her face grim.

Because no matter how much Nami wanted Ray to forget about her... Ray just didn't want to do that.

* * *

endnote: Woah. Heavyyyyy on the kayxray writings, I know. It's just too easy to write them, forgive me. Ray's always been a little bit crazy, so now we see just how far she'd go to get what she wants. woo hoo? hahaha.


	31. Chapter 31

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 31

author's note: Oh, what we do for love. DESTROY THE WORLDDDDD. lol

* * *

'Things had been going great, how did it spiral down to this?' Asahi thought to herself as she sat there, alone. She had been having a great time, secretly dating Ryouga who was just the sweetest man ever. He would bring her little sweet things and kept sending her flowers from 'a secret admirer' that he cutely denied sending. Well, sending Riku from Persona, flowers anyways.

Persona was just getting more and more popular, everything had seemed alright. Kai and Kuu were great, they were working on their songs and going to publicity events and variety shows, their schedule was always booked full... things were great.

It had all started with a blow up with management. Sarukawa had taken Persona aside secretly and told them that Saeko was treating the three unfairly. If they signed with Monkey Pro, he would give them awesome benefits and salary and he wouldn't whip them! Kai and Kuu wanted to negotiate their contract with Kamonohashi Agency first but Saeko had shot them down completely saying it was either her way or the highway.

All three members of Persona were indignant. Hadn't they worked their butts off for Saeko? Weren't they all in this together? Didn't they have to stand by and watch the management get all love-love and be subjected to sights that they shouldn't be seeing? All they had wanted was a little bit more food, some more money, a little bit of rest and a maybe some respect! Every time they got a food gift, Saeko would eat it all! They were subjected to box lunches and hard work all the time! Their money was given to them in tiny allowances... was this how idols lived? When they weren't practising, they were in the studios with the team going through their songs and when they weren't doing that, Saeko insisted that they studied their regular school work or kept them on a strict regiment of exercise!

So they had left, unaware at that moment, their marketability had changed.

'It's all my fault.' Asahi thought, depressed. She had been hanging around with Ryouga a lot more... one night, even staying over at his place because she had gotten tired and Katsuyuki had convinced Riku that he should just stay over and had messaged Saeko with some excuse about having to keep Riku longer for something work-related. The two just ended up snuggling and kissing, Riku shying away from doing anything further and Ryouga had understood and been a perfect gentleman.

This was where all this stemmed from. In the morning, they had gone to work together and Riku remembered the moment exactly. Ryouga's neatly coiffed hair was unusually out of place that morning. They had been in front of his apartment complex and Riku had reached up unthinkingly and smoothed it back into place.

Someone had taken a photo of them and from that angle, it had looked like Riku was kissing the taller man! Riku hadn't even told Kai or Kuu about his relationship with Ryouga and when the picture came out and with the things that happened afterwards...

When they went to Sarukawa-san for help, he had laughed in their faces and told them that they were over and done with. He wouldn't front a group that was going through a scandal like this; it would take too much effort to help them claw their way back up to the position they had been in before! Because of this scandal, '3 Seconds' had dropped from the charts completely. Nobody wanted to talk to them, people in the industry avoided them... except for the papparazzi of course. They were everywhere they went.

Jiro of all people, had come to the rescue and offered them shelter since they could no longer go back to Kamonohashi Agency. All three of the boys of Persona didn't want to go back home, stubbornly sticking together. But staying together in the little warehouse room that Jiro made himself at home in, tempers had started flaring as each new disappointment hit the 'boys' hard. When Asahi had come out and told them that the picture wasn't a photoshop, that she HAD slept over at Katsuyuki's house, Nami had been livid. Hinata just wanted everyone to calm down and talk it out but Nami and Asahi had ended up fighting and coming to blows.

The fallout? Nami had left angrily, shouting that she didn't need them and she would go back to trying to be an idol all by herself. Hinata hadn't wanted to fight, but with Nami gone... it seemed like all her strength had vanished. She was convinced that without Nami, there was no Persona. Persona had always and will always be a three person group made up of Riku, Kai and Kuu. So Hinata had left, saying she needed some time.

So here Asahi was, sitting there alone in this little warehouse room with Jiro hovering anxiously nearby.

"Asahi?" Jiro asked meekly. The long-haired girl just sighed and closed her eyes, burying her face in her hands. She had messed up. She had seriously messed up.

"I brought you something to eat." Jiro had bought takoyaki for her, even though Asahi knew he was short on cash. "Come on. Eat something. We'll figure something out."

"I've messed everything up, haven't I, Jiro?" Asahi asked quietly, fidgeting with her phone.

"No. No, Asahi. It's just a little setback." Jiro was sitting beside her, eagerly trying to make her feel better. This was just like in gradeschool.

"Aren't you angry with me too?" Asahi asked quietly, afraid of the answer. She just couldn't bear it if dependable Jiro, Jiro who had always cared about her was angry too. "You know? Because of Katsuyuki-san?"

Jiro shrugged, a foolish smile on his face. "Well, I know I'm not the best looking guy. I'm some times useless and-and-and it's taking a long time to get my pulitzer. And Katsuyuki-san-he's got everything together, right? Like right now he does. But I'm still trying my hardest. And we'll finally get married-"

"Jiro, stop." Asahi chuckled and pushed him gently. The gentle push still sent him falling to one side, though. Asahi had always been stronger than Jiro. "I-oh!"

Her cry of dismay sent Jiro scrambling to sit up again. "Asahi! What's wrong?"

"My purupuru!" Asahi pouted. The day just keeps getting worse! It seemed like stuffing was coming out of one end of the doll. The thread had been unravelling there before and Asahi had tried her best to mend it, but it seemed like her purupuru was nearing the end of it's life. It had been her good luck charm...

"What's that?"

Jiro frowned when he saw something square, black and flat inside the little stuffed toy. Pointing it out to his crush, Asahi looked inside the doll then pulled out the little item, revealing a tiny miniSD card.

"What is this?" Asahi's mind went back to the fateful day she picked up this doll, the same day that propelled her into the limelight as Riku. Really, it was because of their run through the station away from the men chasing them that had brought them to Kamonohashi Saeko and Marilyn. Was this what those men had been looking for?

"Really, what is this?"

Jiro snatched the card from Asahi's fingers. "A miniSD card? I don't have a reader..."

"Well, I'm curious! Go find out what's on this card!" Asahi ordered. Something inside the purupuru the yakuza were after?

"Yeah, yeah." Jiro grinned. "My friend has one so I'll go get it. Wanna come along?"

"I have something to do." Asahi said evasively, hoping Jiro wouldn't continue asking. But with her luck right now, OF COURSE, Jiro continued asking.

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm..." Asahi felt slightly guilty as she looked at Jiro's open face. "Going over to Ryou-Katsuyuki-san's place."

"Oh." Jiro tried to keep a smile on his face. But it really was hard. First, there was that... INFURIATING Oshima Yuko at the Wakamatsu house. Now, there was Katsuyuki-san. How was he going to compete against those two?

"I'm going to tell him the truth about me."

"OH." Jiro was slightly alarmed. He didn't see this going well at all. Either Asahi was going to get hurt or... well, Jiro was going to be hurt. "Maybe you shouldn't."

"I should. I mean, I know the press don't have any leads on who the other person in the picture was because his face was blurred out, but he's affected too." Asahi was pinning her hair up, having done it for what seemed like forever now. She could do this in the dark, in her sleep if she had to. Her wig was secured on tightly and Jiro was amazed at the transformation. If he didn't know Asahi was Asahi, he wouldn't have thought that the woman in front of him was anybody other than a man. Asahi just had to change... One of Kai's hooded sweaters was lying around and the jeans she was wearing, though tight, were not especially feminine. Kicking off her ballerina flats and tugging on a pair of rugged masculine boots, the transformation was complete.

"Hood up with sunglasses and nobody recognizes you." Riku put on his big shades and Jiro could feel himself becoming starstruck. Riku was just too damn cool!

"You sure you wanna go do this?" Jiro really had a bad feeling about this.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Though Riku didn't feel so sure. But Katsuyuki-san must have liked Riku because he sensed that he was a girl underneath his disguise, right? That must be it! He wouldn't be mad, would he?

"Well, good luck. But eat your takoyaki first." Jiro offered the hot food to Asahi. "Before it gets cold."

"Yes, mother." Riku teased, earning him a scowl from Jiro. Splitting the takoyakis between the two of them, they both headed off to run their seperate errands. it didn't take too long for Riku get to Katsuyuki's place and Riku knew Katsuyuki-san was in since the director had messaged the disgraced young man and told him he was at home and waiting for him.

"I'm here." Riku pressed the intercom, blushing a bit. Thinking about what they did last time he was up there was causing his heart to race.

"Hey! Come up!" Katsuyuki-san buzzed the boy up. Taking a deep breath, Riku entered the building and took the elevator all the way up to the penthouse. As the director of Sunny Music, he was in a posh part of town and everybody that hung around there reeked of money.

"Riku!" Ryouga ushered his boyfriend in eagerly. As soon as the door was closed, the director pulled the smaller man into a comforting hug, understanding that the young man must be going through some really hard times. Ryouga had seen young idols go through scandals and it had always seemed so unfair to these young men and women. Because of the industry, if they wanted to be popular with their audience, they had to remain single or keep up the illusion of being single. It was hard when their fans, who loved them when they were 'single', lashed out at them when they were not.

"Are you alright?" Ryouga seperated from Riku so he could hold Riku's face in his hands and examine the young man. It had been days since he last saw the young idol since he and his friends got thrown into this scandal. Ryouga had been kept in the loop, but Riku had declined meeting as soon as possible, just to protect Ryouga. Riku looked tired and drawn, hammered down by the stress of everything that was going on. The leader of Persona sighed and pulled Ryouga close, burying his face into the front of the other man's v-neck shirt.

"Better." Riku did feel better, now that Ryouga was here.

"It's going to be fine, Riku." Ryouga stroked the side of his face gently, then leaned down to kiss the smaller man. Riku still blushed charmingly whenever Ryouga kissed him. It was incredibly adorable and sent a rush of butterflies to Ryouga's stomach. "Do you have a place to stay right now? I know you were saying you were staying with a friend, but wouldn't you rather stay with me?"

"Well..." Riku felt slightly uncomfortable. He knew Ryouga was within his rights to ask to spend more time with Riku... but that much time in the company of someone who didn't know what was going on...

"Just think about it. I could take care of you here." Ryouga grinned eagerly. They had been secretly dating for about a week or so before Riku's scandal exploded, and in that time Ryouga just wanted to see Riku more than ever. He wanted more time with the young idol and though this scandal was horrible, maybe there was a silver lining. "You can live here and we'll wait until all of this blows over-"

"What if it doesn't?" Riku was really afraid. They were getting stonewalled wherever they went and Kai and Kuu had run off. Persona was not Persona without the rest of the members...

"Then you'll still have me." Ryouga assured. "I'll take care of you, Riku. I know... we've only been seeing each other for a while but I really like you. And I want this to work."

"Work?" Riku blinked, unsure of what Katsuyuki-san meant.

"Like, if y-you would like..." Ryouga pulled Riku over to the couch to sit down, trying to steady his nerves and the pounding of his heart. "I want to... make plans with you."

Ryouga had never wanted to make plans with anyone. He realized now that he was severely attracted to Riku as a man. The young idol might be slightly feminine some times, but it was the thought of his lithe, masculine body that sent Ryouga into a frenzy. It was the thought of Riku's kindness, of how he kissed, of the muscles beneath his soft skin, of the way they matched each other so well... Ryouga didn't want this feeling to fade. Riku made him feel good.

"Plans?"

"For the future." Ryouga said eagerly. "I want to be able to marry you some day."

That admission stunned Riku. "With me?"

"Who else is there for me?" Ryouga held Riku's chin tenderly between thumb and forefinger. "There's only you."

"Ryouga, you barely know me and aren't we kind of young-"

"I've been dating random people since I was thirteen." Ryouga interrupted Riku. "I've had more experience than most people have in their entire lives. I tried really hard to feel something for the girls I dated, but I really felt nothing. So I sort of just slid into this whole... hedonistic lifestyle where I drank a lot and went through a lot of girls. I'm tired of that. And with you, I feel like there could be something else, the next point in my life."

It had taken Ryouga... not that much to come to that realization. When Riku had come into his life, it was like all the things he had tried to feel before with other people, the feelings that he had not been able to produce, came naturally. After a bit of denial at first, he realized rejecting that he was attracted to Riku was completely and utterly stupid. Feelings like this only came once in a lifetime and Ryouga wasn't going to let this chance pass him by!

"I like you a lot, Riku." Ryouga said seriously. "You've made it so that I could accept myself. I didn't know why I felt like I was floating all the time, like I was just playing a role. Being with you... helped me realize who I really am."

Riku could feel panic setting in, could feel it really permeating his senses. He was, frankly, overwhelmed by this show of emotions from Ryouga. It was a little bit awkward, because Riku had this huge secret that Ryouga didn't know about. It was basically like the situation Asahi had with Jiro, but a little bit worse. At least Jiro knew he was a girl!

"You know," Riku took a deep breath. "Before... we go on with this, there's something I have to tell you that I've been keeping hidden from you since the beginning. And you might not like me as much and it might hurt you..."

Ryouga paused for a bit, then, keeping his voice nonchalent, asked, "A girlfriend?"

"No!" Riku shook his head, even though an image of Yuko and Jiro popped into his head. "Nonononono."

"Then there's nothing that could hurt me." Ryouga sighed in relief. Another guy he could compete with. He was rich, young, powerful and good-looking; on equal footing with any guy. A girl... well, Ryouga didn't know how he'd compete with a girl if that was what Riku liked.

"Well. There is a girl."

Ryouga was a tad confused. "But not a girlfriend... someone you like?"

"Someone I am." Riku said quietly and pushed Ryouga's hands away. Riku's hands reached up to his wig hesitantly, then began to deftly pluck out the hidden bobbypins that kept his hair in place. Ryouga was still looking at Riku in confusion until the young idol pulled her wig off and then her wig cap that she used to keep her long hair hidden. With that removed, her long hair, sweaty and hot from staying under her wig cap all the time, fell limply about her shoulders.

"I'm that girl, Ryouga." Asahi felt horrible at the look of complete shock on Ryouga's face. "I'm sorry."

"Okay, very funny." Ryouga's laugh sounded forced. "Come on Riku. Good joke, but this is serious-"

"I *am* being serious, Ryouga." Asahi sat back down beside him, taking his hand and placing it on her chest. The young director's eyes suddenly grew to the size of saucers. Asahi had deliberately not worn her binding vest and kept her bra on. The sweater had hidden her boobs before, but not when Ryouga's hand was cupping Asahi's well-proportioned boobs. "And my name's not Riku. My name's Asahi."

"What... what... I don't..." Ryouga forced himself to stop talking, not being able to make sense of any of this. Riku was... a girl? No. That can't be right. His hand left Asahi's chest and quickly went to cup Riku's groin area, expecting to find SOMETHING there. But there was no tell-tale bulge and he was left with a stinging slap across his face.

"What are you doing?" Asahi huffed, cheeks red with mortification.

"I'm sorry!" Ryouga apologized quickly. "But I just... needed to be sure."

Asahi huffed and folded her arms, feeling slightly violated. "I'm a girl."

"You're a girl." Ryouga suddenly felt so... empty inside. "So you lied to me the whole time? Just to see how I'd react?"

"No." Asahi replied in alarm. "I didn't-"

"To laugh at me?" Ryouga asked harshly. "To see if I'd fall for your disguise? Where are the cameras? Do you have someone somewhere hidden outside my door, just waiting to burst in and go 'HA! GOT YOU YOU FUCKING IDIOT'?"

"No, Ryouga," In the face of Ryouga's anger and the hurt blazing across his features, Asahi's indignation at being touched inappropriately disappeared. "I really didn't mean to. It was just, I just wanted to be an idol so bad-"

"So?" Ryouga was almost yelling now. "You could've made it so I wouldn't fall for you! I was head over heels for Riku!"

"You..." Asahi was stunned. "You love Riku?"

Ryouga's expression was scrunched into one of pain. "Can I-can you just go? Please?"

"Ryouga-"

"Please. I just need some time."

Asahi mummbled another apology and before she knew it, she was hustled out of Ryouga's apartment.

"Well." Asahi trudged to the elevators. "That went... worse than expected."

Exiting the building, she wandered aimlessly, not wanting to go back to Jiro's place just yet. She had gotten a couple of calls from her family but had yet to call them back, only mailing them to reassure them. Having nothing better to do, she gravitated towards a shopping strip-mall. As she passed by random stores dazedly, her phone vibrated.

_Nyan-nyan! are you okay? do you want me to come to you and hold you? don't worry, i know they're all lies and i still lovelovelove you! xxx Yuko_

'She's so nice to me.' Asahi thought, feeling a little bit better. After being basically dumped by her boyfriend, it was nice to know that RIGHT NOW, someone cared. She should definitely mail the other woman back-

"So would it be permissible if I took a look at your beautiful breasts?" Asahi jumped slightly at the close proximity of Yuko's voice, but relaxed when she saw it was coming from a store's small television nestled in a mound of various knick-knacks. Asahi managed a small smile at Oshima Yuko's dimpled face, her words at a super-polite level. The store proprietor was chuckling along as he watched the actress talking to two women with huge breasts.

"Go ahead!"

Yuko wasted no time in oogling these huge boobs with an amazed expression on her face. That was when Asahi's smile left her face and the fondness she felt for the other woman was replaced by something else.

"AH!" Asahi gasped, feeling wounded to the core. "Traitor!"

"Can I touch them?" Yuko, if nothing else, was a go-getter and had absolutely no shame. It paid off, however, as the woman closest to the small actress grabbed Yuko's hand and gently lead it to her cleavage. Asahi felt incensed as the dimpled girl's hand disappeared into that cavernous cleavage. Was this woman a cow? How did she have such huge boobs! Asahi had reached her limit when Yuko buried her face in the woman's generous chest, feeling veins popping up all over her forehead.

"WOMEN! They're horrible!" Asahi shouted, startling the shopkeeper. Storming away, Asahi could feel her bad day just getting worse and worse...

* * *

"Lisa, I don't know..." Hinata was sitting in an American-style dessert cafe in the heart of Harajuku, decked out in full lolita regalia. "What should I do? I mean, Nami ran away and I don't know..."

"Hinata, from what you tell me of Nami, she'll come around." Lisa soothed the young lolita. "She'll definitely come around. She cares about you two way too much to stay away. You just have to be patient. I know you three are going through some rough times-I even got a little bit of news trickling down about Riku's little scandal in New Zealand..."

"Oh, Riku." Hinata sighed. She wasn't blind. She had seen how Ryouga would always watch Riku with puppy-dog eyes and the way Riku smiled at Ryouga. They liked each other so Hinata didn't say anything.

"Excuse me." Hinata looked up at the man in the suit and dark sunglasses. He didn't look too happy to see her, neither did he look unhappy though, so she gave him her brightest smile.

"Lisa, I just bumped into someone! Could I call you back?"

"Of course, honey." Lisa sighed fondly. Hinata was still like a kid. "Call me later."

"Okay, love you!" Hinata chirped cheerfully before hanging up and looking up at the older man. "Kuro-nyan!"

Kuroda was barely able to stifle a growl. He could feel his ears heat up as people within earshot giggled at the ridiculous nickname. "Don't call me that."

"Do you want some parfait, Kuronyan?"

"I..." There were a lot of people around and he was getting flustered. It was surprising that he could look a gun in the face and kill people in cold blood... but this girl's bright face made him stutter. "Um. Would you?"

"Yes please. Strawberry for me and I guess chocolate for you?"

"I don't want one." Kuroda walked away to the counter to get the dessert, fumbling for his wallet. People were always afraid of him. Why wasn't this girl? And why did it shake him so? He could have her killed so fast, she wouldn't know what hit her... but he didn't want to.

"I need to ask you a question and I hope you'll answer me." Kuroda was fast running out of time. His boss was getting impatient with him and his men were chomping at the bits. He had no illusions about his role in the organization: he was just another replaceable stooge. And his men, though loyal to his face, were all young sharks, reading to tear him apart at the first sniff of blood. Putting the parfait down in front of Hinata, he sat opposite her.

"Say 'ah', Kuronyan!" Hinata presented the yakuza hitman with a spoonful of parfait. The looks that the people around them were giving him made Kuroda flush again. He was a grown man! A dangerous man! He did not like being coddled by a highschooler, nor did he think it was appropriate.

"Kuronyan!" Hinata pouted. The yakuza immediately opened his mouth and a sweetness engulfed his palate. It had been extremely long since he had had anything sweet... he didn't know why. He thought he'd killed all of his tastebuds with whiskey and shochu.

"I need you to look at these pictures." The yakuza took out an envelope from inside his jacket, extracting several pictures. "Take a look and tell me if you recognize these girls."

Hinata, of course, recognized the two girls in the pictures. Nami and Asahi.

"Don't know!" Hinata lied cheerfully as she spooned another bite of parfait for Kuroda. "Say 'ah'!"

"It would be better, if you do know them, not to hang around them." Kuroda didn't know why he was saying this. "These two girls are in some kind of trouble and you should stay away from them."

Hinata picked up another spoon and took a bite of the parfait thoughtfully. "Well.. duly noted. But I don't really know them, of course."

Kuroda nodded, wondering how he was going to do this. He had already gotten into trouble for not taking care of this problem from the very start... his boss had asked him why he hadn't just shot the two girls point-blank. But this yakuza still remembered a time when at least children were off-limits. He just needed the little cellphone strap thing and then he could possibly just... forget these girls.

"Kuronyan, your phone is ringing!" The yakuza looked down at his phone and winced. His boss was calling. He wasn't particularly fond of his boss, though he was loyal. He had only been under this boss for maybe eight years or so, and this boss had replaced his old one. Because he had been pretty low in the ranks when that happened, he hadn't been slaughtered like the loyal lieutenants of the old boss. He had risen quickly after the power shuffle, the boss had seen promise in him and Kuroda had delivered. His boss was a new breed of yakuza, but Kuroda was old school to the bone. That's probably why the new boss liked him... he was loyal, like the old boys and wouldn't stab him in the back like some of the younger predators swimming in the tank.

"I can get that later." Kuroda looked at the parfait pointedly. "I'd like another bite."

Hinata brightened up and spooned up some more parfait for the yakuza. Right now, in the colours of the lolitas clothes and the sweetness in his mouth... he felt like just taking a break for a while.

"I just want to say thanks again for saving me." Hinata smiled pleasantly.

"Guys like that should disappear from this world." Kuroda shrugged, sounding very much like the yakuza he was. "They shouldn't be called human. There are a lot of people like that out there, so you have to be careful."

"Well, as long as you're around, I'm safe, right?" Hinata said cheerfully.

"Some times people who seem safe aren't that safe." Kuroda growled, a little bit angry at this girl's naiveté. This was how people got into situations that were hard for them to get out of! This was how people got sucked into debt with yakuza and how bad people take advantage of good people! "The way you act, it's stupid."

"It might be. But I do trust you." Hinata cut right through the bull and Kuroda knew that she knew who he was, what he was capable of. He didn't know how, but her clear eyes that didn't judge him in any way. It was... nice. Very nice.

"Well. Hm. Thank you." He replied gruffly, barely audible. "Are you... are you okay now?"

"I'm fine." Hinata heaved a sigh. "Just that my friends are fighting and I don't know what to do."

"I don't know if I can help you with your friends, but maybe I can sit and listen." This was fast turning into something else. Kuroda had only wanted to get the information he needed from the girl. But now, he was lending a sympathetic ear! So he sat there for almost an hour as Hinata talked about her friends and how they were fighting and how she felt slightly helpless on how to help them resolve the fighting.

"The three of you sound close. Don't worry, it'll work itself out." Kuroda said simply. Without thinking, the next thing slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "You remind me of my daughters."

"Daughters?"

Kuroda went quiet, pressing his mouth into a thin line. The parfait was all gone and he had so wanted another bite to get rid of the bitterness that he was tasting now.

"Sorry." Hinata wasn't completely obtuse, knowing she had touched on a sensitive topic.

"It's fine." Kuroda felt like he was in another session with Nito Moeno, with less dog-talk. He actually found himself prefering this, though. Moeno was just weird. She was always talking about her dog and treating it like it was a human child or something. "It's been a while since I've seen them."

"When..." Hinata started tentatively. "When was the last time you saw them?"

"When they were still chubby." Kuroda smirked, remembering his older daughter, holding onto the hand of his youngest daughter. They both had black, black hair and porcelain-white skin. The youngest always liked running around wrapped in her favourite blanket while the oldest loved playing with their mama's jewelry. He had left them a long time ago and knew better than to come back, remembering quite clearly in his mind when he had left, when he was still young and hadn't seen or done as much as he had now.

"But it's better, you know?" Kuroda cleared his throat, feeling slightly angry at himself, remembering how his oldest daughter had looked at him silently, not saying a word. But he could see the accusations in her eyes. And his younger daughter, clutching her blanket and bawling her eyes out.

"You'd be around their age, I guess." Kuroda didn't want to talk about them anymore. In his life, he had plenty of regrets. The foremost one was leaving his family.

Hinata didn't press for more, seeing quite clearly that the man was done talking. "Let me buy you a cola."

Though he protested, Hinata had walked off to place her order. Kuroda really like regular cafes where the waiters came to take your order instead of having to go up to the counter in this cafe-his phone was ringing again. His boss.

"Sir." Kuroda answered the phone.

"Why are you in a cafe eating icecream with some girl? You starting to like them young?"

The colour drained from Kuroda's face. He was in his boss' line of sight.

"I'm getting information from her, sir." Kuroda replied smoothly. "She knows about the two girls."

"Stop messing around. Get what we need from her. Bring her in."

"Sir, she's just a kid-"

"Bring her in."

The line went dead. Kuroda sighed in resignation as Hinata came back with a coke. He surprised her by downing it all in one go and nodding towards the door.

"Wanna go for a walk?"

* * *

The quiet woman ran her fingers through her friend's long hair. How the tiny girl had managed to keep it all underneath her wig was a mystery to her.

"I'm fine, Acchan." Nami was lying on Atsuko's bed, her back turned to the actress. Atsuko had called Nami when news of Persona's scandal had reached her and basically forced Nami to promise to go over to Atsuko's apartment so the actress could make sure her friend was alright. Maeda had begged off the day and her management had, surprised by the request, let her. Maeda Atsuko was, if nothing else, a hard worker. Ohori Megumi was actually quite pleased that Atsuko was taking some time off because after that Okinawan story arc, the drama had boosted her popularity straight through the roof and big players were starting to look at Atsuko for larger roles in big-budget productions. Atsuko had been working non-stop and Ohori was really worried that the young actress might not be looking after her health.

When Nami had arrived, angry, tired and frustrated, Atsuko had lead her to her bed and made her lie down. Then she had stroked Nami's hair until the shorter woman's angry breathing had evened out and she had finished giving Atsuko a run-down of what had happened.

"You're not fine. You just had a huge fight with Asahi." Atsuko lay down then drew Nami in until she was spooning the other girl and had her in a protective embrace.

"You don't have to bother with me-"

"Lets just pretend that you're just here to see me and we're just hanging out, okay? I know you don't want to talk about, so lets not until you want to." Atsuko adjusted herself as Nami turned to face Atsuko. The actress took this opportunity to burrow and squirm closer to Nami, prompting the brash girl to chuckle and tighten her arms around Atsuko.

"Alright." They lay like this for a while, one tired from dealing with the scandal, the other one grateful for a rest from her own hectic schedule. It was like back in Okinawa, before all of this happened. Intimacy like this was soothing to the both of them and though Atsuko didn't have as much on her plate as Nami, she was still tired from her everyday work and quickly fell asleep.

"Don't work so hard, Acchan." Nami was about to close her eyes, thinking Atsuko had the right idea when her phone vibrating told her she had just gotten a message.

_I want to ask... how about the two of us make a unit? I'm serious. We would be so good together. from Ray_

Ray.

Nami could be an idol, she would be Kai, of course. But she would be singing again, in front of the bright lights, not letting her fans down, inspiring the little girls out there who hid how fragile they were behind a thick, impenetrable wall. It was her dream, right? And Ray was Japan's top idol. Nami would be at the top of the heap quicker than one could blink.

'What the hell?' Nami flipped her phone shut and closed her eyes, but the message bothered her and kept her awake. To collaborate with Ray, to be a duo instead of just a single person trying to make her own way... She didn't know. And it was Ray. Ray, whom Kai had broken up with and who didn't know Kai's secret. Truthfully, Nami would rather be in Persona.

'No. That ship has sailed.' Nami opened up her phone again and quickly wrote out a message to Ray. She had to start over again, she had to forget about Asahi and Hinata. She had to make it and show everyone who said she couldn't do this, show HERSELF that she could do this.

_lets talk_

It was one of Nami's least proud moments. She wanted to get ahead and she would do it if Ray was offering this knowing full well this would be a complicated working relationship. But what other choice did she have? Go slinking home? But... could she take advantage of Ray like this? How could Ray even LOOK at Kai after all he had done to her?

What did Ray see in Nami/Kai?

Nami wanted to ask Ray again, seriously ask. The answer would probably be unsatisfactory for Nami, though. Everytime Ray had answered her, Nami didn't know... just didn't know what Ray saw. Didn't understand HOW Ray could feel these things. Was it Kai? Was it Nami? Was it Persona's light? Was it the make-up and everything else?

But on that stage, when Ray had sung on Music 10 to Kai... Nami had felt Ray's eyes pierce right through her and see everything there that Nami hid away. And Ray had wanted Nami despite all of that...

'No, she wants Kai.' Nami shut herself out viciously. Nobody, especially not Japan's number one, the charismatic Diva, could love a runt like Nami. 'I'm all alone now, I gotta think about myself. Asahi's probably building a little love nest with Katsuyuki-san,' Nami thought bitterly. 'And Hinata... well, I better check on her later.'

"Rargh!" Nami let out a little growl of frustration, immediately waking up Atsuko.

"Mmm? Nami?"

"Sorry." Nami apologized, but was quickly hushed up as Atsuko leaned up and sleepily pecked a soft kiss on Nami's jawline.

"Go to sleep, stop thinking about all of this." Atsuko muttered sleepily. Nami had to agree with Atsuko's logic and closed her eyes to go to sleep. Even though she was troubled by everything that was happening and with Ray thrown into the mix now, Nami was exhausted. With Atsuko's steady heartbeat thrumming through her wired body, the small girl finally felt sleep shrouding her consciousness and welcomed merciful oblivion in the warmth of Acchan's arms.

* * *

"She messaged back!" Ray said excitedly. The Diva was currently at the studio, recording some more songs, her brush with Nami having kicked her muse into gear. With her was none other than her little mouse, Watanabe Mayu. Ray was taking a break and Mayu had been updating Ray on the situation. Persona had gone into hiding and rumour had it that their management and the young talents had gotten into a big blow-out!

"She wants to talk!" Ray continued excitedly. They were the only ones in the recording studio; Ray's dramatic mood swings recently had made everyone avoid her whenever they could.

"Well, you got what you want, right, boss?" Mayu smiled at Ray, liking how the songstress looked so completely happy. But Mayu was a little disappointed to find out that Kai, righteous Kai had caved. "I guess my work is done here and I have something I want to discuss."

The seriousness in Mayu's tone and the fact that Mayu rarely asked to talk unless it was important made Ray pay attention.

"Yes?"

"I'll have to terminate our relationship, boss." Mayu said politely.

Ray nodded, absorbing the news impassively. "Why?"

"Because I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry." Mayu apologized. She didn't like what she was doing. Before, she would work in an area that sat right with her. The young girl didn't like how the area she was working in now, was just a little bit morally grey. Mayu had, of course, orchestrated idols' downfalls. Sold the pictures she had taken of Riku and Ryouga together to a scandal rag that had paid handsomely for those kinds of photos. It hadn't been the first time she's done that, nor would it be the last. But Mayu had always watched emotionlessly and knew that the people who fell deserved it, found the fault in them that her employers needed her to. She also had a distance from her targets, making it so much easier to completely destroy them. It was like a game.

But Mayu knew Riku, and she knew Kuu and Kai, too. Riku didn't deserve to be smeared like this and the other two didn't deserve to be dragged down along with Riku. Everything was unfair. Riku would watch out for her and seemed to always want to keep her in his line of sight, like an older brother would treat a younger sister. He always encouraged her when Mayu was working as Tomochin's assistant. Kuu made her laugh and treated her like one of his best friends. He whispered secrets into her ears and made her feel like a kid again with his jokes and his juvenile ways. Kai always seemed to want to give her food or candy or something. He talked to her seriously, like the adult she wanted to be, and always spoke his mind even if some people didn't like it. But Mayu did. In their own way, the three were all very nice to her and had watched out for her and included her.

"I like Riku. And Kuu. And Kai." Mayu shrugged. "I think if I stay in your employ, I'll continue hurting them."

"You can't hurt them any more." Ray laughed nastily. "Persona's finished; they won't be able to dig themselves out. And anyways, only Riku's affected-"

"Begging your pardon, but that's not true." Mayu interrupted as politely as she could. "Persona is Riku, Kai and Kuu. When you hurt one of them, you've hurt all of them. Even now, they've dropped off the map and nobody would even take Kuu or Kai individually. They only work as a group, boss."

"Kai won't need them." Ray frowned at Mayu. "She'll have me."

"Then what?" Mayu asked gently. "And why would you want her under these circumstances? Isn't she just using you, then?"

"If it's her, it doesn't matter." Ray replied softly. The Diva had thought long and hard about this. She would debase herself as much as needed if that was what it took to get Kai. Was this unhealthy? Probably. But it was like an addiction eating her up... it was everything Kai was that made her love him so much. She didn't know why and was aware that there were plenty of people falling over themselves for her to look at them the way she looks at Kai... but there would only be one. "I'll do anything to have her."

"Then I guess this is the end." Mayu bowed to the Diva. "I'll keep their secret, you don't have to worry about that. But I can't do this anymore. Good bye, Ray-san."

"It's Ray now, isn't it?" Ray couldn't help feeling just a little bit sad. The little mouse was extremely useful and she was amusing. But if Mayu wasn't going to help her with Kai, Ray didn't need the little spy anymore.

"Go talk to Hiro. He'll give you your severance pay." Ray nodded at the girl. "You've been very helpful."

"Thank you." Mayu bowed respectfully low, gave Ray one of her trademark smiles-which the Diva had to say, was slightly creepy-and left quietly. Ray was alone with her thoughts, in the empty studio room. It was like being underwater, really, because the room was sound-proof and all she could hear was the sound of her own breathing, of her heart pounding in her chest.

All that mattered was Kai.

But.

She couldn't help seeing, in her mind's eye, Kai's accusatory glare.

'No. She'll be happy about this. I know she will.' Ray squashed down any doubts. Hadn't she done everything she could for Kai? Wouldn't she be happy and touched that Ray did all of this for her? Of course she would.

Wouldn't she?

* * *

endnote: Sorry guys, I went to Japan for a bit, then to Las Vegas. Woooo, party! Finally an update, huh? hahaha.


	32. Chapter 32

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 32

author's note: Hope y'all like this! Hopefully I'm back in the groove after this...

* * *

Nami woke up to the smell of breakfast and let out a little sigh of contentment. She sat up, feeling a bit awkward since she felt like she was imposing on Acchan. When she turned to the side, a little sticky note stuck to her cellphone caught her eye.

_want to clean up first? cooking might take a while... 3 Acchan_

Atsuko, cooking? Nami got up, grinning. THIS she had to see. Sneaking out of bed with cellphone in hand, she opened the door carefully in case it squeaked. From the kitchen, she could hear pots and pans banging around and Atsuko talking to herself aloud.

"...eggs, eggs, eggs..." Atsuko was rifling through the fridge when Nami poked her head into the kitchen. In comfortable at-home shorts, a loose tank top and a cute apron; Atsuko looked the model of domesticity.

"Oh, Nami!" Atsuko smiled when she saw Nami gaping at her from the doorway. "You're awake!"

In the face of the overwhelming CUTENESS of Atsuko in an apron with a mixing bowl and eggs in her arms, Nami flipped open her cellphone.

"Say cheese!"

"Cheese!" Atsuko smiled, squinting her eyes tightly so she looked like she had her eyes closed. It was an absolutely ADORABLE smile. Nami took the picture and grinned at Atsuko.

"Good morning." Atsuko beamed at the shorter girl. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much." Nami nodded. Especially at the smell of coffee in the pot.

"Go get changed. Your hair's a mess." Atsuko giggled and sent Nami out of the kitchen to get ready. The actress had prepared a towel, toothbrush and various other toiletries for Nami. It was all very thoughtful and Nami couldn't help the feeling of... gooey-ness inside of her. Atsuko's cute ways were turning her to mush!

'Hope she cooks better than Ray, though.' The thought came unbidden into the small girl's head and she quickly flipped her phone open to check for messages. None.

'Ray.' Ray's face banished all other thoughts from Nami's brain, the young idol remembering how Ray had looked at her- how Ray had looked at Kai during her performance. Ray's reinvention, her new rendition of her number one song on the charts had really shaken Nami to the core. Nami was no longer able to deny that Ray did love her, for some reason or other. Nami just didn't know why. And if Ray did love her, why hadn't she replied to Nami's mail?

'She was probably just playing with me.' Nami thought bitterly as she quickly stripped to take a shower. Nami couldn't really blame Ray, though. She had treated the other woman horribly when Ray had just been honest about her feelings.

'It's probably for the best.' Nami thought glumly, but not without some relief. She had been feeling more than a bit guilty about her decision to accept Ray's offer...

After a quick shower, Nami felt a lot better. She had been thinking a lot... mostly about her career and the people involved. Asahi. Hinata. Maybe she needed to really talk it through with them.

The sound of Persona's '3 seconds' filled the bathroom, startling Nami. Quickly picking up her phone, she answered without checking who it was.

"Good morning, Kai!" Ray's chipper voice made Nami's heart skip a beat. "I didn't message you back yesterday because I suddenly got really busy and by the time I was done, it was night-time."

"It's fine. What time did you get out?" Nami asked, suddenly concerned.

"Pretty late." Ray admitted.

"Take care of yourself, alright? Don't work too hard." Nami had seen Ray's fragility when Kai had rejected her, had seen the lost, scared look on Ray's face when the Diva was surrounded by a mob that had suddenly discovered Ray in their midst.

"Do you worry about me?" Ray asked softly. Nami cleared her throat, feeling her whole body heating up.

"Well, you know, like a friend would." Nami muttered.

"Well, as a friend," Ray could feel her heart beating fast. She would have Kai! "I'd like to talk to you about becoming a couple-a couple-group. Like two singers together, our relationship with be very professional."

"As a group. Of course. Very professional." Nami repeated robotically. She hadn't missed Ray's Freudian slip.

"Well, I've got some time this afternoon, why don't you come to Monkey Pro in the afternoon... say around 1?" Ray could feel her heart beating faster, afraid that Kai might just reject her offer...

"Gotcha, I'll definitely be there!" Nami couldn't help feeling just a little bit of elation. She would get her chance again! "Thanks a lot!"

"Anything for you." Ray said in a straight-forward manner. She had to make sure Kai knew she hadn't given up on him, that Ray still felt just as strongly. But right after that pronouncement, Ray hung up, overwhelmed by a feeling of shyness. On the other end, Nami was looking at her phone, a mixture of elation and wariness on her face. She had heard what Ray had said at the end and it really didn't bode well for Nami. The number one selling Diva was still head over heels in love with Kai.

'She can be a little bit crazy, but she's done everything to try and make me happy.' Nami remembered all the horrible tasting food Ray had cooked up, just for Kai. How the songstress had come to Okinawa to see the blonde member of Persona. Every little thing she did annoyed Nami on some basic level but Nami didn't know why. Ray embarassed the hell out of her most times and made Kai blush to the roots of his hair. Her touch sent electricity running through Nami's veins and Ray's mere presence sent shivers down her back.

'What the hell is wrong with me?' Nami shook her head. She wanted to see Ray... goddamnit. God. FUCKING. DAMNIT.

NAMI WAS NOT AN L!

"I am not an L, I am not an L." Nami repeated to herself. But repeating that mantra, she couldn't help remembering how Ray's lips had tasted and how Nami, even though she tried to kill the truth, knew that she had liked it.

"FUCK!" Nami whispered to herself. "FUCK FUCK FUCK." This was the most she'd sworn since coming into Persona since Saeko-shachou had heard Nami swearing up a blue storm once and decided to whip the swearing out of her.

_Sanbyou-_

"Hello?" Nami picked up the phone quickly, needing something to distract her. But the person's voice on the other end, though far away, was clear. The root of her problems right now. Ray.

"Now Kai is mine." Ray's glee was unmistakable. Nami was slightly puzzled. What...?

"So you want to keep Kai all for yourself, hm?" Saeko's voice was unmistakable. What was going on?

"Who-"

"You used the paparazzi to create a Persona scandal." Saeko's words suddenly made Nami's blood run cold. No. It was impossible. Ray wouldn't do something like that... would she?

"Your proof?" Ray's casual, haughty voice was still loud and clear.

"If that's not the case, then I apologize." Saeko's voice was smooth and calm, but there was a hint of a challenge in there. "Why don't you just admit to it, princess?"

There was a pause, then Nami's heart dropped when she heard Ray's next words, anger and grief boiling up inside of the diminuitive girl.

"It's true. So?" Ray's voice still held that haughty note. "Isn't it Riku's own fault for getting his picture taken? It's not my fault."

The line disconnected with a click and Nami stared at the phone in shock and anger. This short conversation had really revealed a lot. Ray had done all of this? She had been the one that exposed Riku to the paparazzi?

"Nami?" Atsuko knocked on the bathroom door tentatively. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Nami tried to sound cheerful. "Sorry, I'll be just a minute, alright?"

Atsuko went back to the kitchen to pour out a glass of orange juice for Nami, hearing the trouble in Nami's voice no matter how hard her friend tried to mask it. She had opted for a western breakfast, eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes, toast and fruit. Anything more complicated, Atsuko tried to leave for her mother to do.

"Hey, sorry that took a while." Nami was freshly showered with a towel around her head, wearing a borrowed shirt and quarter-length shorts Atsuko had lent her.

"It's fine. I hope you like orange juice." Atsuko watched Nami carefully, noticing immediately how the smaller young woman seemed a bit tense. She was also stabbing at her food like it had personally wronged her in some way.

"I'm sure the bacon's feeling really sorry now for whatever he did to you, Nami. It's cruel to stab him like that when he's already down." Atsuko teased. Nami flinched a bit, then put down her fork with a sigh.

"It's all my fault, Acchan. I destroyed Persona." Nami said miserably. "If it weren't for me, Ray wouldn't have gotten the paparazzi to take pictures of Riku."

"Wait." Atsuko frowned. "What? What happened?"

Nami went over everything quickly, from Ray asking Kai to join her to what she had pieced together from the conversation she had overheard on the phone. Atsuko ate while she listened, frowning as Nami seemed to get more and more depressed.

"Maybe what you heard was taken out of context," Atsuko tried to reassure Nami, even though with what Nami said, it was hard to mistake what she had heard.

"It's hard to take what I heard out of context." Nami said dryly. She took a gulp of orange juice, her hand shaking with the emotions roiling through her. "It's all my fault. I killed Asahi and Hinata's chances at being idols. We had all worked so hard and I messed it all up-"

"It's not your fault." Atsuko blurted out in the middle of Nami's self-deprecating tirade. "You didn't force Riku and Ryouga to date and you didn't inform the paparazzi about the relationship."

"But, Ray-" Nami tried to continue but Atsuko had already shut Nami up by shoving some buttered toast in her mouth.

"It's not your fault that Ray likes you. You're just... likeable. And she's crazy." Atsuko said firmly.

"She's not crazy." Nami couldn't help but stand up for Ray. Even after all she did...

"She's crazy in love, then?" Atsuko giggled as Nami rolled her eyes at Atsuko as the actress started singing some English love songs. "Crazy for you? She's going craaaazy, craaaaaazy. Crazy, for you babyyyyy..."

"Horrible, Acchan." Nami finally cracked a smile. "You're butchering Aerosmith."

"So crazy mezameta jounetsu, sameta kokoro o Reset!" Atsuko crooned out some Namie Amuro lyrics.

"Enough!" Nami laughed out loud, nearly choking on her food. She took another gulp of orange juice, raising her eyebrow at Atsuko's shit-eating grin. "I almost choked to death."

"On good food." Atsuko reached across the table and wiped some crumbs away from the corner of Nami's mouth, then cupped the side of Nami's face gently. "You'll figure things out and everything'll be fine."

Nami nodded, calmed by Atsuko's presence but couldn't help worrying, still. "What if it doesn't work out fine?"

"Well, you have a friend, I'm not going to say who... but she is a very popular actress right now." Atsuko removed her hand from Nami's face and started eating again, a smug smile on her face. "And if that actress has learned anything, it's that if she caused a scandal with a member of Persona, Persona's popularity would rise again. Popular actress plus unpopular idols equals popularity."

"Or we could drag that actress down with us." Nami shook her head. "No thanks."

"So what are you going to do about Ray? Are you still going to go see her?" Atsuko heaped some pancakes onto her plate and poured maple syrup all over them. She had the syrup imported from Canada since Canada has the best maple syrup.

"I'm going to go see her." Nami pursed her lips together grimly. She had to confront Ray about this and even though what Ray did made her just so angry, it also made her want to cry. Who knew the Diva could hurt her like this? It wasn't even about how Ray had hurt her professionally... Nami realized right now that she actually had a lot of trust in Ray. That despite the sexual harassment, the clinginess, the annoyance... Nami trusted Ray and considered her to be, at least, a friend.

'At the very least.' Nami remembered how Ray had kissed her when Nami had visited the songstress at her condo. 'At the very least, a friend.'

"Relax, Nami." Atsuko picked up a grape and held it out to the small woman. "Say 'ah'!"

Nami opened her mouth obediently and Atsuko slipped the grape in past her lips.

"Good girl."

Nami scowled. "What am I, a dog?"

They finished eating, chatting with each other companionably until they both had to get dressed. Atsuko had to get back to work today and Nami had to meet Ray. Nami had her Kai gear in an overnight bag and in a short time, had put on her wig, binding top, a nice v-neck t-shirt and a pair of nice jeans. Traveling incognito, Kai had her trusty black hoody and a pair of sunglasses to hide her identity. Right now, with Persona's popularity so low, it was awkward to be recognized and the paparazzi were relentless.

"Have fun at work." Kai called out to Acchan, as he was heading out the door first. "Ittekimasu."

"Wait wait wait." Atsuko ran to the door, one earring on and the other one she was struggling to put on while moving. Finally managing to hook the dangly piece of jewelry in, Atsuko grabbed Kai and wrapped him in a tight hug. She kissed Kai on the side of the face, her lips near Kai's ear.

"For good luck. And if you need to come back tonight, call me." Atsuko smiled at Kai. "Itterashai."

Kai nodded, not trusting himself to speak. What Atsuko had said touched him deeply. The 'itterashai'. He needed a friend right now, when he was feeling like he was at his lowest. He left Atsuko's building and made his way using public transportation to the headquarters of Monkey Pro. Hiro was waiting for Kai at the doors to the building and glowered at the young man as he came close.

"Hey, Hiro." Kai nodded firmly at the bodyguard. The big man didn't answer and only motioned for Kai to follow him which the blonde did. Only when they got into the elevator to go up to Monkey Pro's office did Hiro speak.

"I'm disappointed in you."

"You should be disappointed in yourself." Kai's legendary temper was already fiery-hot. On the way here, without Atsuko's calming presence, it had boiled over. "Ray is a spoiled, pitiful woman who doesn't even know that she's slowly destroying herself. You and all the rest of the people watching her shouldn't have coddled her cuz you all set her on this path."

"Why you-" Hiro looked in at Kai, as the blonde-haired young man took off his sunglasses and looked up at Hiro fiercely, fearless even though Hiro topped the shorter man by a good two heads.

"Because all of you treat her with kid-gloves, she's become an unbearable princess. And I shouldn't have been so nice to her, either." Kai shook his head. "It's my fault that I have to do this. But don't worry, I'll be out of your precious Diva's hair after today."

Hiro went dumb with silence, not knowing how to reply. Thankfully, he didn't have to as they arrived at the floor Monkey Pro was located on. Mumbling that he would get Ray, he left Kai alone to pace Sarukawa's office angrily. The manager had been AWOL since Ray started her moodswings and communicated with people by phone. Only when it was entirely unavoidable would he come to the office and only if Ray specifically demanded it would he go to see her.

Kai paced the office and finally stilled to look at the framed newspaper clippings of various artists around the office. Of course, the majority of them was about Ray. His anger abated somewhat as he saw a younger, much softer-looking Ray singing on stage. It was a photo of her when she was really young, competing in her first singing contest while playing the piano. There was a smaller photo int he corner of an older man, maybe in his fifties with his arm around young Ray, who was holding the first prize award. The pride in the man's eyes was apparent and Ray's large, carefree grin was beautiful.

'Must be her grandfather.' Kai's heart softened a little. But just a little.

"Hajimemashite." Kai whispered to Ray's grandfather's photo. It was too bad that he had to do this. Kai was sure if the old man was alive, Ray would've been slightly different. Their meeting might've been different. Kai remembered, unbidden, the first time he had seen Kai. Not knowing who she was, pitifully alone and angry. But he can't think of that now...

Kai kept moving along the wall, following the timeline of Ray through the newspaper clippings. Her debut at the Indies. Her steady rise to stardom. Kai noticed, as time passed, Ray's smile slowly shrunk until the most recent clipping on the wall. There she was at Music 10, her singles having topped one after the other. The headlines read that this was the fifth consecutive song that Ray had at number one. The picture of Ray was one of her smiling, but just barely. One side of her mouth was pulled up in a half-smile that didn't reach her eyes.

'What happened to you, Ray?' Kai remembered a mischievous Ray in Okinawa, holding his hands and asking him to play hooky with her. How was this Ray the same as the one who had ruthlessly engineered Persona's downfall?

The door opened and carried with it the sound of Ray's voice, telling Hiro to wait outside. Kai took a deep breath before steeling himself to face Ray.

"Kai!" Ray's face was split in a happy grin and came at him with arms spread. "I really wanted to see you-"

The slap to the face was light, but it shocked Ray out of her happy haze and halted her in her tracks. Ray held the side of her face gingerly and she looked at Kai in shock, hurt beyond belief. "What was that for?"

"Isn't it obvious after what you've done?" Kai could feel his hand burning from the slap he had given the Diva, refusing to let the feeling of guilt overtake him. "You had those pictures taken and destroyed Persona."

"Kai..." Ray felt a little panic grip her and tried to play dumb. She gave him a disarming smile. "What are you talking about?"

"I heard what you said!" Kai's words were a little above a shout. He was so angry and disappointed. He had thought Ray was better than this. But seeing the guilt in her face which was always open to him, Kai knew that what he had heard on the phone was the truth.

"I-"

"How hard do you think we worked?" Kai remembered how tiring it had been, how they had gone through so much to get to where they had been. "We worked ourselves to the bone to get to where we are, we spent nights at the studio recording, we had to do all of this crap and take abuse from people cuz we were at the bottom of the pile. And when our popularity finally started to rise..."

"If you paired with me, you'll sell even more!" Ray blurted out. It was obviously the wrong thing to say as Kai's face darkened.

"You're acting like it's fine to crush people's dreams." Kai's angry words, as always, were unchecked. "Who would pair with someone horrible like you?"

Kai's words pierced Ray to the core.

"I only want to be with people I can trust." Kai shook his head. "I want to be with people who have dreams."

"Trust and dreams are stupid." Ray snapped back, taking a defensive stand. It was KAI who didn't understand! Didn't he know? She did everything for him! Why wasn't he happy? "There's no point if you don't sell!"

"Your songs mean nothing!" Kai spoke, fast and angry. "Even if they sell, there's no point!"

"You're the one in the wrong!" There was nothing more the Diva could say as she lashed out blindly with her words. Kai just threw up his hands and headed towards the door, not trusting himself to speak any more, even in his haze knowing that some things could never be taken back. He needed to leave, he needed to calm down, but the quaver in Ray's voice made him pause for just a micro-second. Just a small pause. Then Kai continued heading out the door, her voice echoing behind him. "It's all your fault!"

Kai fled the building blindly, anger forcing his feet to keep moving, not understanding why one of the most prevalent feelings-besides anger-was sorrow. He didn't know where his feet were taking him until he was at the playground near his-Nami's house. There was no-one playing in the area. Sitting on one of the swings, Kai sat down and swumg himself, feeling completely lost. He wanted to be a kid again...

"Nami?" Kai's head shot up to see his two sisters in their school uniforms and came to a stop on the swings.

"Erena?" Kai blinked. "Miho? What are you two doing out of school?"

"It's go-home time!" Miho retorted. She ran at Kai and nearly toppled him off the swing with her enthusiastic hug. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? We've been worried sick about you cuz we saw the news! Have you been eating? WHAT ABOUT THOSE YOSHINOYA COUPONS I GAVE YOU? How's Riku? I MISS KUU!"

"NAMI!" Kai finally fell off the swing as Erena also jumped on him. The two schoolgirls were jabbering a mile-a-minute while cuddling their older sister, the excitement of seeing their favourite (and only) older sister making them forget they were in a public place. A couple of mothers with their pre-school aged children had arrived at the park but quickly left, clucking their tongues and whispering in scandalized tones about 'the openess of youth nowadays'.

"Off, off." Kai growled. "Both of you are almost women."

"Nuh-uh." Miho looked down at her chest. "Not yet. Erena is though."

"Hey." Erena flushed scarlet. She was a growing girl! It wasn't her fault that parts of her grew faster than others!

"No teasing your sister." Kai ruffled both their heads and pushed them off so they were sitting up. How's ma and pa? And our brothers?"

"Ma keeps wondering when you'll come home and if you'll come home with an illegitimate child." Miho piped up. "What's illegitimate mean?"

"Da's... being da." Erena nudged Miho. "Shouta is maybe seeing this girl and Ichiro is still in university and still seeing his girlfriend."

"Things are the same, hm?" Kai picked himself off the ground then placed a hand on Erena's shoulder. "Hario still bothering you?"

"Your friends kicked his ass!" Miho punched the air. "He doesn't bother us anymore and Erena learned to kick ass too!"

"Who taught you?" Kai asked curiously, looking at Erena.

"A boooooy. OOOoooooo..." Miho giggled.

"MIHO!" Erena was red as a tomato. "Shhh!"

"What? What boy?" Kai narrowed his eyes at Erena, the protective older sister in him rearing its ugly head. "WHO IS IT?"

"No-one. Just someone I met." Erena mumbled.

"He's in the Judo club!" Miho tattled on her sister quickly, seeing this as a good time to brown-nose. "He's a big guy and everyone's scared of him! But he's reaaaaally nice to Erena!"

"WHAT'S HIS NAME." Kai asked in a monotone voice, his left eye twitching. Some GUY was talking to his baby sister? HE. WOULD. KILL. HIMMMM!

"Namiiii... it's nothingggggg..." Erena whined, pouting. "Forget about it! Lets go home, you should stay for dinner!"

That shook Kai out of his murderous mood. "Ma probably didn't cook enough-"

"Ma cooks more than enough!" Miho interrupted again. "She always sets a place out for you!"

"Well," Kai spread out his arms. "Look at how I'm dressed."

"It's fine, lets just go home and get rid of the wig." With both Erena and Miho begging, Kai finally relented and let himself be dragged back home.

"Can we call Riku and Kuu along?" Erena asked excitedly.

"No, we're sort of not talking to each other right now." Kai shrugged clumsily. "You know, me and my big mouth. We're not even living together anymore cuz we got into an argument with our management and we can't go back to the share-house..."

"So where do you live now?" Miho asked curiously, youth making her blunt and rude. "In a box on the street?"

"No!" Kai scowled at his younger sister and smacked her lightly upside the head.

"Why don't we call Ray?" Erena suggested, remembering how Ray had made Kai happy last time they were at Riku's parents' house. Erena immediately knew it was a bad suggestion when she saw Kai's face darken and his mouth pull down into a grimace.

"No." Kai's voice was unusually high, a signal to Erena that Kai was getting emotional but trying to hide it. "I don't think so."

"What about Maeda Atsuko? Don't you know her too?" Miho continued, oblivious to her older sibling's mood change. At Atsuko's name though, a small smile broke across Kai's face.

"Acchan is working right now. I spent the morning with her."

"Morning?" Erena squinted up at Kai, suspicion and jealousy roiling inside of her. She didn't know why, but she just DID NOT like this Maeda Atsuko! And putting the pieces together... didn't Kai say he didn't have a place to stay? "Did you sleep over at her place?"

"Yeah, it was really nice of her." Kai nodded, unaware that Erena was glowering at no-one in particular.

"Why don't you just come back home and sleep here?" Erena scowled.

"Well, she wanted to take care of me." Kai shrugged, blushing a bit. Again, Nami didn't have many girl friends... make that none, really. So Atsuko's consideration of her and the affection she heaped on Nami had helped the short girl a lot. Erena could see Kai's blush, of course, and was absolutely livid. She would DESTROY this Maeda Atsuko!

The three continued talking, strolling home to the Kawachi household. As soon as they got into the house, they ran up the stairs before Ma could take a look to see who's home.

"Did I raised a pack of savages?" Ma shouted from the kitchen when nobody greeted her upon entering the house.

"TADAIMAAAA!" Erena and Miho shouted.

"I hear three sets of feet!" Ma shouted back. "Is that Maachan?"

"NO!" Miho shouted down. "It's a surprise!"

The girls entered their room and Kai quickly changed into Nami then sneaked back down the stairs. They found their mother in the kitchen with her back towards them.

"You girls need to stop running up the stairs like that. You aren't children anymore and I need the two of you to act like proper ladies." Ma sensed the children behind her.

"Not a lady yet, ma." Nami grinned as her mother spun around at the sound of Nami's voice.

"YOU!" Ma ran forward and enveloped Nami in a hug. "I've been worried sick about you! Where have you been! You horrible child! How dare you surprise your mother like this!"

Inbetween hugging Nami, Ma Kawachi was also smacking her middle child upside the head and scolding her.

"Ma?" Their father peeked into the kitchen and upon seeing Nami, let out a little laugh of surprise. "Nami!"

"Nami?" Shouta had just gotten home and walked into the kitchen. Upon seeing his younger sister, he grinned and went to slap her on the back. "You're back, Stupid!"

"YOU'RE stupid." Nami growled back good-naturedly. It was nice to be back home. Dinner was served quickly and for once, nobody really bothered Nami about her job. They were just happy they were home and Nami was happy to just listen as the family talked about their day. Da Kawachi seemed really hapy to have all his girls home and just kept smiling throughout dinner until Shouta teased him about it.

"Gochisousama deshita!" Everybody chorused when they were done their meal.

"Alright, Miho, Erena - homework." Ma pointed up the stairs.

"Awwwww!" The girls whined but made their way upstairs after extracting a promise from Nami not to leave without telling them.

"Shouta. You too."

"What? Can't I play a little PS3 first?" Shouta whined but was sent grumbling up the stairs, too. Da retreated to the living room to watch the news, but not before clapping Nami on the shoulder, wordlessly conveying how glad he was that his middle daughter was back.

"Nami, help me clear the table." Nami started to, but was interrupted by a phone call. Checking the call display to make sure it wasn't Ray, she winced when she saw that it was Asahi.

"Shouldn't you pick up your phone?" Ma watched as Nami let it ring out and start stacking bowls.

"It's fine." Nami replied gruffly. She wasn't ready to talk to Asahi just yet. She hadn't figured out how to tell her friend that it had all been Nami's fault.

"Are you okay?" Ma looked at Nami worriedly.

"I'm... just having a bit of trouble with work." The short girl sighed.

"Well, you know if there are problems, you should confront them." Her mother frowned at her.

"It's not as easy as-"

"Your pa and I didn't raise you to not speak up." Nami's mother raised an eyebrow. "And if things are bad, we've always known that you can handle it. Out of all your siblings, your da and I had to worry about you the least because you're very capable, Nami. You're our most independant child."

Nami listened carefully. This was the first time EVER her mother had ever told her something like this. "But we worry about you. So if things get really hard, you can come home. But I know you can deal with whatever the problem is."

That was the most encouraging thing Nami had ever heard her mother say to her. The matriarch of the Kawachi family left to put some dirty dishes into the sink while Nami mulled over what her mother said. It was true. Nami was no coward and she would deal with this. Taking out her phone, she pressed the button to check her voicemail.

"Hinata's being held captive by the snake's henchmen!" Asahi's words were rushed and panicked as she informed Nami that Hinata was being held near the Nishi Arai First factory and that she needed Nami.

"SHIT." Nami flipped her phone closed and slipped it back into her pockets. "MA! I'm leaving!"

"Where are you going?" Her mother came back into the dining room, worry making her look older. Nami found herself regretting the fact that she possibly put some of those lines on her mother's forehead.

"I just need to help my friends! I'll be back later!" Nami rushed up the stairs to grab her bag of Kai-clothes, quickly kissing both her sisters on the forehead.

"Miho, be good." Nami said quickly. "Erena... we'll talk about your boyfriend later."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Erena flushed as Nami raced down the stairs and pulled her shoes on. She hoped she wasn't too late!

"Nami!" Nami's mother stood in the narrow hallway, seeing the panic in her middle daughter's face. "You... just be careful."

"Yes, ma." Nami gave a quick salute and was out the door. Ma Kawachi let out a weary sigh as Nami disappeared again.

"Why don't you just tell her you know that she's Kai?" Da Kawachi was right behind her, just in time to catch Nami disappearing out the front door and hear his wife's sigh.

"It's the same reason why I told her manager not to tell her that I know. You know how Nami is." Ma Kawachi wiped her hands on her apron. She had known as soon as she saw Kai on tv during the Indies that that was her daughter. She would know her child ANYWHERE and in ANY form or disguise. Ma Kawachi had made a call to Persona's manager right after and yelled at the woman for lying to her. She only stopped when Saeko reassured Nami's mother that this was exactly what Nami wanted and Nami was happy.

That was all a mother could wish for, really. That her child was happy.

"Since Nami's run off, you're helping me with the dishes."

"Damnit." Da Kawachi cursed.

"Don't swear. This is where our children get it from!" Ma waggled a finger at her husband before dragged him into the kitchen.

* * *

It was just yesterday that Persona had knelt down in front of Saeko, humbled and apologetic, their bottoms burning from the whipping they had all gotten. Saeko had come to their rescue. Once Kai and Riku had rescued Hinata from the factory district and helped her quickly put on her wig and change to a guy; they had made their escape. It would've been a clean one, if it weren't for the fact that they slipped up when one of the snake's henchmen stopped them on the streets and asked them about Hinata. Then they had ran from the henchmen chasing them but managed to run themselves straight into a dead end. It would've it for them if Sae and Sayaka hadn't intervened.

Apparently, Saeko had had them followed by Sayaka and Sae the entire time. The bodyguards had lost track of Hinata, but following Kai and Riku had lead them straight to where they needed to be. The bodyguards were formidable, disarming the henchmen quickly and restraining them. The two women shooed the three boys on their way while they called the cops and had things dealt with. They had patched things up with each other and Saeko and their manager had immediately sent them on another public appearance to appease the fans that they hadn't lost.

So here they were, singing their old song and scheduled for a handshake meet. There was significantly less people and only some stayed for the handshake. Those that did tried to avoid Riku.

"I wish Rino was here." Kuu said depressively. Their number one fan was away on vacation but had been messaging Kuu like crazy, saying how she would support them forever and was trying her best to get fans to show, but a lot of them were giving her weak excuses. The more dedicated fans HAD shown when Rino had asked them to, but even they had told Riku how disappointed they were in him. However, Riku did garner quite a few new male fans who blushed when the tall member of Persona smiled at them. It was disconcerting.

"You're attracting all the gays." Kai pointed out needlessly. Their handshake event was done in a little under an hour with many fans getting more than half a minute with the boys when their past meet-and-greets, the boys would be working for at least two hours with only a few seconds alotted to every fan.

"I know." Riku shrugged, seeing how some of these young men were gathered near the exit to the small shopping plaza and were flamboyantly squealing over some posters he signed for them. When they saw him looking at them, they jumped and waved to Riku excitedly.

"They're nice." Riku smiled and waved back, causing the gay boys to squeal some more. Their girl fan numbers had dropped dramatically, with only a few going to talk to Riku and the rest wanting to just see Kuu and Kai. "I'm so unpopular with the ladies it's actually getting me down. And being popular with boys who think I'm a boy... I've learned that that could suck."

"Well, what about that girl? She seems to still like us." Kuu nodded towards a foreign-looking woman in a delivery-person's clothes, an empty carrying tray in her hand. She was staring at them with an intense expression on her face.

"What the hell. That's more of an 'I wanna kill you' face!" Kai whispered.

"Maybe she's one of my angrier fans." Riku shivered. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned... even though it really wasn't his fault, mostly. As they stood there discussing what the hell the delivery girl wanted, her face suddenly broke into a wide grin.

"PERSONAAAA!" Squealing, she ran at them, managing to dodge Sae and Sayaka, to the bodyguards' surprise. Throwing herself into Persona's arms in an impromptu hug, she backed up a bit to jump excitedly in front of them. "I'M A HUGE FAN OF YOURS!"

Kai waved off Sae and Sayaka, smiling at the strange foreign delivery-girl. "Well, it's very nice to meet you...?"

"Hattai!" Hattai grinned at her idols, tears apparent in her eyes.

"Hey hey, don't cry." Kuu rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"I'm just... so... happy!" Hattai hiccupped. "Sashihara-san told me you guys would be playing near me, so after I made my delivery, I came to see if I could catch you before you left! I'm so happy I got to meet you three!"

Sae and Sayaka grinned a bit at how happy Hattai's pronouncement made the three boys.

"Please come to my shop where I work! I'll treat you guys! PLEASE!"

Kuu, Riku and Kai looked over at Sae and Sayaka hopefully. Marilyn and Saeko were off trying to help them get more tv appearances, so the only internal staff watching them was Sae and Sayaka.

"I don't see why not." Sayaka shrugged. The boys didn't really have anything to do and it seemed like this Hattai girl was really cheering them up.

* * *

endnote: I really loved Hattai. And I cut out the chase scene part because it's a little bit redundant since most of you have watched mendol already... okay, who am I kidding. I was lazy. lol. This chapter feels a bit rushed but I blame the chase scene that... I didn't write...


	33. Chapter 33

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 33

author's note: I loved Hattai's character in Mendol, especially that scene when Persona kept their promise to her and she looked soooo happy.

* * *

Riku looked at who was calling him and frowned as the name flashed across the screen. Quickly pressing the hang-up button, Kai and Kuu grinned at Riku's pout.

"Katsuyuki-san?" Kai asked. The blonde had come to the conclusion that the whole scandal was not Riku's fault and had been entirely his own and Ray's, so the idea of Riku and Katsuyuki-san together didn't bother him so much.

"No." Riku frowned again. Hattai was in the kitchen, getting the rest of their orders. The foreign fan had INSISTED that she treat all of them to noodles. Hattai's boss had taken one look at Persona, laughed delightedly, and allowed Hattai's idols to eat for free. There was only three customers in the restaurant, all seemed to be just hanging out with some tea and didn't pay Persona or their bodyguards much mind.

While Riku sat there pouting, Kuu sneaked Riku's cell out of his pocket. "Lets see..."

"Hey!" Riku scowled at Kuu, but the boy had already opened up his caller id and raised an eyebrow at the most recent caller. Actually, this person had taken over Riku's call-display list, all of them missed calls. There were also tons of unopened mails that Yuko had sent Riku.

"Why don't you want to answer Yuko's calls and mails?" Kuu scratched his head.

"Because she's an unfaithful dog." Riku said harshly and crossed his arms.

"Ouch." Kai winced. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Riku continued to pout.

"Something musta happened." Kuu waggled his eyebrows at Riku. "Or else our prince wouldn't be so pissed off. What did she do? Look at some other girls, er... boys?"

"Why should I care if she's hitting on other people." Riku scowled, his face darkening. "Or even if she was groping other people. Or like, PUTTING HER FACE IN BETWEEN THEIR BREASTS?"

"Woah." Sae and Sayaka backed away from Riku slooooowly. Kuu and Kai tried to subtly shift away from Riku, horror on their faces at Riku's wide-eyed, crazy-angry look. They were all interrupted by Kai's phone, which he picked up hurriedly when Riku's angry gaze settled on him. Kai took a look at the caller ID, his face darkening to the same shade as Riku's. He jabbed the hang-up button viciously, not able to keep from growling a bit.

"Who was that?" Riku was curious, Kai's bad mood shaking him out of his own.

"RAY." Kai muttered. Kuu and Riku's facial expressions immediately matched Kai's. The blonde had told them of Ray's involvement in the whole scandal and none of them were too pleased.

"Hai!" Hattai came back at just the right time with their noodles, lightening the atmosphere with delicious food. "Cold soba for Kuu, curry udon for Kai and tonkotsu ramen for Riku! Miyazawa-san wanted chashuu ramen and Akimoto-san wanted the miso ramen! Hattai also brought everyone gyoza!"

"Ittadakimasuuuu..." They all chorused. Watching her idols eating happily, Hattai sat with them, stars in her eyes.

"I can't believe Persona is here in the restaurant that I work!" Hattai said excitedly, her accent coming on strong when she spoke Japanese.

"You're like, one of the only ones that still love us." Riku said seriously, feeling sad. Kai and Kuu looked at Riku sympathetically. Riku still blamed only himself for this mess. "Because of my scandal, I've let down a lot of my fans."

"Don't worry!" Hattai said fervently. "You'll never disappoint me! Even if the scandals are true, so what? I'm Persona's NUMBER ONE FAN!"

"I bet you Sashihara-san would beg to differ." Riku grinned. Hattai's face took on a reverent glow.

"Sashihara-sama is on a whole different level than me! She's like, the leader of us all." Hattai intoned solemnly.

"Sasshi's a good help, ain't she?" Kai said appreciatively. "Too bad she's not here."

"It's fine, Rins would be here if she could. But we have Hattai which is just as good! Why are you in Japan, Hattai?" Kuu asked curiously as he slurped his noodles.

"I'm studying here, but I really wants to become an idol!" Hattai chattered excitedly, but then she seemed to get slightly depressed. "My mother was against it and we fought about me coming to Japan. In the end, I had to come completely on my own."

"Her Japanese is pretty good." Sae commented to Sayaka as she slurped her noodles.

"The soba she cooks is super delicious too!" Kuu said gleefully as he ate.

"But why do you want to be an idol?" Riku asked between eating his ramen. They were all super hungry since their meal quality and quantity has dropped with their popularity...

"Being an idol means giving people their dreams!" Hattai seemed a bit more sombre as she said her next sentence. "In my country, the Kingdom of Wataar, there are many poor people."

"Hey, isn't the Kingdom of Wataar where we get our oil from?" Kuu asked, remembering how his parents had mentioned that once.

"Which means there are some super rich people there!" Kai made the obvious connection.

"The rich are small in number." Hattai explained patiently, as if she'd explained dozens of times before. "The majority of people are poor."

"So you came to Japan just to make money?" Sae asked.

"No, I came here to be an idol. And to learn to work!" Hattai smiled. "I've learned a lot since coming here and I've learned how hard it is to live everyday and I realize how hard it is some times and how depressing it gets... so I want to be an idol because I feel if I learn how to make people happy, I could go home and give my people dreams!"

Riku nodded, smiling up at Hattai. Wasn't this why he, Kai and Kuu wanted to be idols?

"But..." Hattai had a crestfallen look on her face. "I've failed every audition. Fifty auditions total."

Kai leaned back to talk to his bandmates, looking at Hattai in amazement. "Hey, she's totally like us!"

"Perverted producers harassed me..."

"That's terrible!" Kuu's heart went out to Hattai.

"But I still definitely want to be an idol!" Hattai exclaimed.

"We understand, we definitely do!" Kuu, Riku and Kai clasped hands with Hattai in a teary moment. Sayaka and Sae took the opportunity to eat Kuu's share of the gyozas, unnoticed by the young idol.

"I know!" Kai grinned at Hattai. "We'll sing for you at tomorrow's event! Cheer you on!"

The next day, they had another little mini-concert at the same venue. Hopefully, people would show up. But if not, singing for just one dedicated fan was great, too!

"Really?" Hattai looked beside herself with happiness. "Promise?"

"Totally!" Kuu chirped.

"We're gonna perform a new song tomorrow for the first time! We'll totally dedicate it to you!" Kai continued excitedly.

"Come back tomorrow at 4pm to the same place you saw us today!" Riku gave the details. It was really nice. Really REALLY nice to be appreciated by a fan like this when all their other fans seemed to either have disappeared or were disappointed in them. They finished their meal quickly, then Sae and Sayaka both hustled the boys away. Saeko had something to tell the boys and would meet them at the recording studio. Upon getting there, they seperated, with Kuu and Riku needing the washroom and Kai heading to the recording studio alone with Sae and Sayaka.

The two boys talked excitedly amongst themselves, their spirits high after meeting Hattai. Their predicament didn't seem so hopeless now, after all! They used the washroom quickly, but when they got out, someone they both did not want to see stood in front of them.

Ray.

She looked, to put it nicely, horrible. Her face was drawn and tired and she looked like she had been put through the ringer. And really, that was the nicest thing they could think of.

"I need to talk to you two."

"I don't think we wanna talk to you." Riku threw back. He had to place a hand on Kuu's shoulder to stop him from trying to lunge at the Diva. The songstress sighed and nodded listlessly.

"That's fair. So I'll make this quick." The Diva did something that made the two actually jump in surprise. Ray bowed, her hair obscuring her face. "I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for everything and I'll do my best to fix things."

"You're only apologizing because Kai's mad at you!" Kuu pointed out. The Diva straightened and gave a pained smile.

"He's really mad, isn't he?" Ray let out a trembling sigh. "I'm... doing this because Kai made me think. What I did... was wrong. I apologize. I'll say it again and again if you want me to: I'm sorry."

Ray had thrown a fit after Kai had left her in Sarukawa's office, ripping off the newspaper clippings Sarukawa had framed and hung on his wall and throwing them to the ground. What was the use of it all? She destroyed blindly, not knowing what she was doing, dimly aware Masa and Mako had come into the room and grabbed the last frame she had from her hands. Masa held her as she beat her fists against his chest, screaming, not knowing what she was saying. She acted like she was possessed and when she finally calmed down, she slumped against Masa, all the energy gone from her body.

"I'm sorry, okay." Ray had whispered, her voice raw from screaming. Masa had kept a good grip on her and was telling Mako to cancel Ray's appointments for the day. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I just.. I..."

Ray had seen the newspaper clipping of her and her grandfather, destroyed on the floor, feeling deeply ashamed of herself. So here she was, trying to make amends. It was really hard to push away her pride and apologize to these two, but she would do it. Tomochin had come over again and they had talked a lot... and Ray knew what she had to do.

"That's nice and all, but your apologies don't really help." Riku said coolly. "Kai was right from the beginning: you're not a very nice person."

"I could be." Ray replied weakly. "I'm... trying."

"Trying doesn't help. The damage has been done already!" Kuu pointed out, but felt a little bit bad. Ray was definitely not in a good state. "Now we gotta work ten times as hard to not be pushed aside!"

"If I could take it back, I would." Ray tried again, looking at the two. "I'm sorry. Really, I am. I'll fix it, somehow."

"How?" Riku questioned. "How will you fix it?"

"I'll think of something." Ray was going to try. She needed to talk to Kai. It hurt so MUCH, like her heart was being crushed and cut up inside her chest, she couldn't even breath. Ray had spent all night in bed, tossing and turning wondering why the pain hadn't killed her yet and had only stilled when Tomochin placed a hand on her stomach and patted her comfortingly.

"Please." Ray's remorseful face did soften up Riku and Kuu a bit. They weren't made of stone. "Please... is Kai here today?"

Riku and Kuu exchanged looks.

"I don't think you should see him. He's pissed." Kuu said relunctantly.

"Could you tell him I'm sorry?" Ray's heart fluttered. She wanted to see Kai. She needed to. "He really won't see me?"

"He really doesn't want to right now." Riku crossed his arms uncomfortably. They had all known Ray was madly in love with Kai but seeing her reduced to this, it was extremely sad. The Diva looked completely lost and out of her depth. "Look. We'll tell him you said sorry to us. But you really should stay away from him."

Ray nodded relunctantly, not really wanting to agree.

"Alright. See you later, Ray." Riku and Kuu bowed a bit, then left the songstress alone. As they disappeared around the corner, one of the doors in the hallway opened, the person hiding inside that room peeked out and gave Ray a smile.

"Boss?" Mayu waited patiently. She had been called back and THIS job she agreed with.

"Could you help me fix this, Mayu?" Ray sounded completely broken. The hoodied girl nodded.

"It'll take a bit, but I've started the ball rolling already, don't worry, boss."

Meanwhile, Riku and Kuu were walking back to the studio, oblivious of Ray's planning and Mayu's scheming.

"What the hell." Riku muttered to Kuu, as they continued on to the recording studio.

"I feel bad for her." Kuu whispered. Kuu had recognized the loneliness in Ray's eyes and realized Ray was very much like Hinata. Hinata had no friends before Asahi and Nami came along. And it was difficult, REALLY difficult to find people that you liked and liked you just as much. To be at the top must be lonely...

"She tried to kill Persona." Riku frowned. "But... yeah. I kinda feel sorry for her, too."

They arrived at the studio, their recording team already there. Having not seen them since the scandal, Riku and Kuu gave everyone a tentative smile.

"Hey-urk!" The group had jumped on Kuu and Riku, enveloping the two boys in a group hug. Kai stood off to the side, smiling wryly.

"They got me when I got in, too." Kai's eyes looked suspiciously wet as he fake-shuddered. "Ugh. Hugs."

Kuu was not holding anything in and let the tears flow, touched by the support. "Guys! I love you!"

"We're always here for you!" Paul rubbed Kuu's head. "No gay scandals are gonna stop us from supporting you guys!"

"Unless you're raping puppies." Hideki laughed.

"That's disgusting, Hideki." Nao scowled at the other tech who just laughed out loud. Candy was just hugging Kuu and Riku tearfully, not trusting herself to speak without bursting into tears. It must've been so hard on the boys!

"We're here, dude. Things could get tough, but we'll be right here." Paul continued patting Kuu on the back awkwardly as the boy sobbed.

"Boys." Saeko's voice caught their attention and they turned to see their manager. "You have a TV appearance scheduled for tomorrow."

"Really?" Kuu asked excitedly, tears gone. A tv appearance!

"Honestly? Someone'll talk to us?" Riku was nervous. "Will they ask me about my scandal?"

"They might. But you have to be smart, Riku." Saeko's next words made them unusually sombre. "This is your last chance."

"It's a show that showcases new songs, it's part of Music 10." Marilyn was right behind Saeko and explained quickly. "Usually, they try to get up and coming artists to showcase their music on live TV! It starts a 4pm, so we'll get there 2 hours early to get ready!"

"OSU!" The three boys cheered, then paused, feeling like they might've forgotten something.

"We've already cancelled your mini-concert." Marilyn continued on blithely. "Most people that wanted to see you guys came today and it doesn't seem like there will be more people tomorrow, so the cancellation is fine. We'll have to pay for the space rental but yeah! TV appearance!"

The boys didn't cheer with Marilyn, frowning as they all remembered exactly what they had forgotten.

"We promised a fan we'd sing our new song for her tomorrow." Riku bit his lower lip.

"Well, we've already cancelled." Marilyn sighed, disappointed nobody wanted to celebrate with her. "And the TV appearance is more important! Enough talk, after this, we've booked a dance studio for you three to practice your new dance!"

"Can we go talk to our fan first?" Kuu blurted out. "She works at a noodle shop. I think we should go apologize."

Marilyn and Saeko exchanged looks. Their manager nodded gravely.

"You three can go after you finish up here. After that, go straight to the dance studio." Saeko, surprisingly, allowed them to.

* * *

"Three boys you say?" Kuroda's face was an impassive mask as he walked towards TV Tohto. A police officer working for the mob had passed on information from his men who were now in the custody of the police.

"Yes, sir." The voice on the other end of the phone said respectfully.

"Do they recognize who, do you have a description?" Kuroda's boss was getting impatient and with this most recent screw up, things were going downhill, fast. The person his boss answered to was putting the pressure on.

"Three boys, kinda dressed fashionably. One's blonde, the other has reddish-brown hair and the third had... blue streaks, I think."

"Blue streaks." Kuroda passed by a poster, then stopped. Back-tracking, he stared at the poster in front of him. "You said blone, reddish-brown hair and blue streaks?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you." Kuroda hung up, tucking his phone back into his pocket, then reached forward to rip the promotional poster for Persona off the post. He squinted at the picture, eyes trained on the boy with the blue streaks. He looked really familiar-No. It couldn't be...

* * *

The boys had practiced all night, went home to bed and woken up early the next day to prepare for the TV appearance. They arrived in low spirits, even though they were trying to focus. Even in their dressing room and practicing in front of the full length mirror, they were having trouble bringing the energy into their dance. They should be happy... they had a TV appearance, new costumes, a new song... a new shot at popularity. But during one of their breaks, Kuu took the opportunity to say what everyone was thinking.

"We broke our promise to Hattai." Kuu said sullenly. When they had gone to tell Hattai that the event was canceled, seeing how the smile dropped from her face had made them all feel lower than dirt. She had turned away from them angrily to wipe at the tables. Again, the only customers in the restaurant were the same three guys from before, still slowly drinking or watching the TV that was playing a baseball game.

"You promised!" Hattai had accused, her tone reminding them of a small child who just had a trusted loved one disappoint her. They had tried to explain, but Hattai kept her back turned to them, furiously polishing the already clean table in front of her.

"We made a promise to her at 4pm today." Riku sighed. It was impossible. The Wataarian's words echoed in their heads. They had promised...

"There's nothing we can do." Kai sighed, too. "We have to work."

"But, we promised." The corners of Kuu's mouth was turned down into a frown. "We promised her first!"

"We have a job to do." Riku set his mouth into a grim line. He had to pull rank. "This is why we wanted to be idols, right?"

They all fell silent, confused. Was it?

"Come on. Lets relax." Kai tried to break the mood. "Lets see what's on TV right now, finish our drinks and continue practicing."

The TV was turned on and the blonde started channel-surfing.

"Boring... boring..." Kai flipped through channels quickly.

"WAIT." Riku caught a flash of something interesting. "Go back!"

Kai flipped back until Riku made him stop at a news channel.

"What's so interesting-hey. It's about Wataar." Kai crossed his arms and watched the news report with interest.

"Special bulletin, huh?" Kuu blinked at the flashing characters. What was going on?

"...Wataar the Seventh from the Kingdom of Wataar announced that they will be breaking off diplomatic relations with Japan." The newscaster looked grave and serious in his grey suit. "The Kingdom of Wataar, a country that produces oil, provides roughly 80% of Japan's oil resources..."

"Breaking off diplomatic relations? What's that supposed to mean?" Kai frowned, not really up on politics. His face paled. "Does Hattai have to go home?"

"The Wataar nationals living in Japan most likely have to go back to their home country." Kuu went through his brain, remembering he had learned this somewhere, at one of his parents' many dinner parties. There had been Wataarians there. "They have a special visa because of how important Wataar is, so their people can go to Japan easily. But if diplomatic relations are broken... will she get deported?"

"You're asking us?" Kai frowned. There was a knock on the door and Jiro announced his presence.

"Hey you guys!" He waved at them cheerily. "I found something on the mini-SDcard Asahi gave me-"

"We don't have time for that right now." Riku interrupted, suddenly getting a great idea. "Jiro, could you do us a huge favour? Please please please?"

"Of course!" Jiro couldn't say no even if he wanted to.

"We need you to go to this noodle shop," Kuu quickly butt in. "And find someone on staff named Hattai-"

"Tell her we're sorry we couldn't come today!" Kai jumped in too. "Ask her if she'll be deported!"

"What? What's going on?"

"Well, Hattai is from Wataar-"

"Oh! Did you hear the news?" Jiro rubbed his chin, putting on a serious face. "Everyone's really worried about this. The Prime Minister is trying to negotiate with Wataar the Seventh but she just doesn't want to talk. They don't need us either since China has been trying to get more oil-"

"We saw it on the news." Kai interrupted, impatient with the oily papparazzo. "Could you please go check on Hattai for us? PLEASE?"

"PLEASE!" Kuu clasped his hands together.

"Please, Jiro." Riku pleaded. Really, Jiro wouldn't have been able to say no even if he wanted to. Riku definitely didn't have to ask a second time.

"Okay. I'll call you and tell you what's going on later." Jiro grinned at Riku, putting both hands comfortingly on Riku's shoulders. "You can depend on me! I'll call you when I get to her."

They practiced, a little bit happier now that they knew Jiro was running off to check on Hattai. But as four o'clock came near and Jiro still hadn't called, they got a little bit worried.

"I'm gonna go to the washroom." Kai announced. "Could we call him? I wanna know what's going on before we go on the show."

"Roger that." Riku took out his cellphone and started dialing Jiro's number. Kai meandered off to the washrooms, doing his business quickly then headed back to the studio. Unfortunately, he got lost again.

"God fucking damn it." Kai cursed liberally... after making sure Saeko wasn't around. He looked around the hallway, bewildered. Where the hell was he?

"Why the hell do they make ALL the hallways look exactly the same?" Kai muttered to himself. Choosing a door at random, he opened the door tentatively.

"Is there anybody here..." Kai blinked, seeing some woman sitting with her back turned towards him, her arms acting as a pillow as she rested on the long table in front of her. A shawl covered her head, to ward off the cold from the air conditioner.

'Maybe I should leave her alone...' Kai thought. 'Must be a staffer on break... but... if I head out, I'll just get more lost!'

The person in front of him perking her head up and moving sluggishly told the blonde that she wasn't really that deeply asleep so he took a breath and tapped her on the shoulder gently.

"Sorry, I'm, uh, sorta lost. Can you tell me how to... get... back to..." Kai's words trailed off as the shawl slipped off the woman's shoulders and she turned to look up at Kai.

"Ray." Kai grimaced, retracting his hand immediately, as if burned.

"Kai?" Ray blinked rapidly, hoping that this wasn't a dream as she hurried up to her feet, watching Kai back away towards the door. These days since she had last seen Kai... they had killed her. She had lost all appetite, she had lost her voice, her inspiration. Hiro was worried about her, even Sarukawa had made an appearance and suggested a doctor. The make-up barely covered the circles under her eyes and the palour of her face.

"Please," Ray stumbled, straightened and ran past Kai to block the door before the blonde could storm out. "Please, Kai. Wait. Let me explain-"

"What else is there to say?" Kai's hands were clenched into fists. When he looked at her, he just... didn't understand why she had done the things she did. Why did it hurt so much? Ray had hurt Riku and in doing so, cut into Kai, deeply. How had Ray done it? Her betrayal was like she had twisted a sword into him AND THEN poured salt into the wound and merrily stirred away. Kai was so angry... more at himself than at anyone else. Why? Why was he so hurt? Why was being with the Diva so confusing and why did it take his breath away, why did it make her body burn with some unknown emotion?

"Get out of my way. I don't want to see you, Ray." Kai shook his head, keeping his head turned away from the songstress, not wanting to even look at her. "You sold Riku out."

Kai put his hand on her shoulder, intent on moving her out of his way. When she didn't make a sound, he looked up at her and it felt like someone had punched him in the gut when Kai saw the tears rolling down her face.

"I'm... sorry!" Ray sobbed, barely able to get the words out. The blonde's apparent anger made her wilt even more. "I'm sorry, Kai. P-Please... don't be... a-angry... anymore..."

Kai just watched, speechless, never having seen Ray cry like this, ever. He had seen angry tears when he had first bumped into her... but this time, her crying made him want to cry too. He watched Ray, stupefied, as big fat tears continued rolling down the Diva's face.

"I just... don't get it..." Ray sobbed, putting her hands up to cover her face. She didn't want Kai to see her crying, but she couldn't help it. "I'm the m-most-famous person.. in Japan. P-People fall in love... with me..."

Ray hiccuped, trying to get the words out, her tears leaving her breathless. "I've... never fallen i-in love w-with anyone... before. B-but I'm in-in love with you, Kai."

An ugly sob tore out of Ray's throat. "I d-don't know, w-what to d-do. Since... I fell... in love with you! T-Tell me... how to f-fix this. I don't want you... to h-hate me. I... can't stand it."

Kai reached up without thinking, pulling Ray's hands away from her face. With the cuff of his shirt, he dabbed gently at her tears, not caring that her make-up was staining his white shirt.

"I don't hate you, Ray." Kai sighed one hand holding on to Ray's hand and the other one gently cupping the side of the Diva's face. Kai noted the dark circles under Ray's eyes. The beautiful woman's usually clear complexion had gone to shit, her big brown eyes were bloodshot and the Diva's make-up was smeared and melting off her face. Ray looked like a complete wreck. Kai kept on gently wiping until the make-up was all gone and with Ray's impervious mask shattered, Kai could see Ray clearly. The blonde KNEW Ray, could see right through her.

Kai still found Ray absolutely, ethereally beautiful. Through all the ugliness, Ray was Ray. Kai didn't know how to explain what he felt for her but knew it was something special.

"Don't cry." Kai could feel himself leaning forward, noting dimly that the distance between them was closing.

'What is going on?' Kai watched Ray's eyes slowly slide shut as she waited for him. It felt natural to mimic her action as he closed his eyes, about to close the gap-

"KAI!"

"WAAAH!" Kai and Ray went flying to the floor, a tangle of limbs as Kuu burst through the door. Riku was quickly at the door too, watching in amusement as a red-faced Kai scrambled up and helped Ray up to a sitting position too.

"What were you doing?" Kuu asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"I WASN'T DOING ANYTHING!" Kai shouted defensively. His face was the shade of a tomato.

"Lets go!" Riku's voice was urgent, not sparing Ray another glance. He was still kinda mad at her but seeing the Diva with her eyes blood-shot, seeing evidence that she had obviously crying made Riku soft. He'd rather hold on to his anger for a bit longer.

"Where are we going?" Kai was almost unbalanced as Riku and Kuu tugged him towards the door.

"To see Hattai! Where else?" Kuu rolled his eyes.

"You guys..." Kai blinked. This was serious. They all knew the reality of where they stood... they couldn't afford to offend anyone. Skipping out on this TV appearance when they had been booked in...

"Lets do it." Kai nodded. "Go go!"

"Osu!" Riku and Kuu grinned at the shortest member of their band. They were in this together!

"Kai!" Ray called after him hoarsely. The blonde spared a backwards glance, gave Ray a crooked, soothing smile, then ran off.

"I couldn't catch everything Jiro was saying, but apparently, she's STILL going to our venue to wait for us!" Riku huffed as they ran down the hallway. "But her mother wants her to go back home on the 6pm flight tonight!"

"We can't let our fan down!" Kuu said fervently. They were so intent on getting to where they need to be that they were caught off guard when Sayaka and Sae blocked their paths, with Saeko and Marilyn right behind the bodyguards.

"Where are you going?" Saeko asked icily.

"Shachou!" They all blanched at the forboding look on the woman's face.

"I told you. This is your last chance to make a comeback."

"If you blow this, you really will be out of the idol world!" Marilyn wrung her hands. She was going to die of stress! These boys would be the death of her!

"Are you planning to throw away everything for a single fan?" Saeko asked harshly. "Making your dreams come true means abandoning some people."

"Being an idol means giving people their dreams!" Riku retorted. That was why they had become idols! For their fans! It wasn't about the fame, the (non-existant) money or the fine clothes they got to wear! It was about the fans! "Before, we probably would've chosen our work here without hesitation."

"But we understand now, after we've lost everything." Kai was ready to fight to get to Hattai!

"Even a single fan is important to us. We're doing this idol thing cuz we want to give people hope." Kuu was near tears. "We don't want to let her down!"

"It might be just a promise to a fan, but it's important to us because she's important to us! We're her idols, we CAN'T let her down." Riku tried a different approach and bowed to Saeko. "We're sorry."

Saeko sighed, looking at the three boys. All so different, but so united.

"Alright. Sae, Sayaka... drive them to where they need to be."

The bodyguards nodded. As they ran to the parking garage, all three members of Persona managed to blurt out a quick 'thank you' before they disappeared.

"Shachou-"

"I forgot how much it hurts." Saeko smirked. "Abandoning someone, or being abandoned by someone while you're trying to get to the top. I tried to make them do what Sarukawa did twenty years ago."

* * *

Hattai stood in her headdress and the traditional clothing of the people of Wataar. She had her luggage with her as she stood there. The foreign fan was trying her best not to look at her watch, staring at the stage, waiting patiently. Jiro fidgetted beside her, feeling extremely sad.

"Hattai. Your flight... you gotta check in. It's already four..." Jiro checked his own timepiece. Hattai needed a lot of time to get to the airport and if she dallied, she might miss her flight. For some reason, the three customers at the noodle shop had followed them and when Jiro asked, Hattai just smiled apologetically and said that they were her friends.

Jiro looked at his watch again... Hattai was going to miss her flight and plane tickets weren't cheap! Jiro tried apologizing for Persona. "Please don't be too upset with them. This is a really critical time in their career-"

Hattai finally smiled and looked at him, though her eyes were watery.

"I'm sure they were just stuck in traffic." Hattai nodded, holding on firmly to her trust in her idols. Persona, they were true idols. They wouldn't have let her down. Something must have kept them. "They tried to come, but they got stuck in traffic. I have no reason to be upset with them!" The smile on the Wataarian's face quivered. "Well... I should be going, though."

Pulling her luggage along, Hattai headed to the exit, trying to keep her head high. Her three 'friends' saw her leaving and made to follow her. Hattai didn't quite make it to the exit, though.

"HATTAI!" Riku hollered. He was sweating from running from the parking lot to the stage, and dragging the mic stand out. These new stage costumes were damn hot! Kai and Kuu were right behind him, also breathing heavily as they set up their mics. It had taken a while to find the manager in charge of the stage and bully him into setting up the sound system quickly for them.

Hattai stood there, seemingly frozen by the sound of Riku's voice. Then, she slowly turned around.

"Persona?" Hattai's eyes were wide with disbelief. They were here! Truly, they were here!

"We're going to sing this song for you!" Riku grinned and winked at the girl.

"This is for the fan that's always supported us!" Kai hollered. People were starting to stop and stare at the spectacle on stage.

"Hattai: this one's for you!" Kuu cheered. "This is our never performed song:"

"Persona's "Christmas Present"." The three said simultaneously. And as the music started, Hattai left her luggage and walked back as close to the stage as she could, her face just luminous with happiness. As they started their song, more people came to stand around the stage as Persona performed and sang with all their might for their fan. They had amassed quite a bit of people with their performance and by the end of it, loud applause greeted them.

Persona grinned and waved at people, happy that they still had an audience.

"ONE MORE SONG!" Kuu shouted excitedly. The crowd cheered as Persona followed Kuu's lead and sang an acapella version of '3 Seconds'. The audience was jumping as the three sang with all their might while Hattai just stood there watching the three, joy shining from her face.

"Ma'am-" One of the three customers that had been following her slipped into the spot by her side.

"They came." Hattai said firmly. "Tell my mother they kept their promise. I'm not going home."

* * *

"Welcome to our humble abode!" Kuu threw open the door and ushered Hattai in, Jiro and their bodyguards following after. With their career well and truly over, the three members of Persona felt... slightly relieved. They were unhappy, of course. But just to be able to live their dream for just a moment had been amazing. Too bad they hadn't managed to make it to Music 10's number one spot...

"Make yourself at home!" Riku waved Hattai in and pushed Kai towards the kitchen to fix up some refreshments for their guest.

"Will your work be okay?" Hattai asked anxiously. She HAD been just a little bit pushy... but their promise had been extremely important.

"We'll be fine." Riku waved away Hattai's concern, suddenly frowning. "I'm sorry, you missed your flight because of us."

"I'm not sorry at all." Hattai grinned and sat down hesitantly on Persona's couch. This was real. She was actually sitting in Persona's living room!

"Will you get in trouble with customs?" Kuu asked. If the visas Wataarians held now were void, Hattai might get in trouble for staying in the country.

"It's fine. I had made a deal with my mother... she said you guys would never keep your promise to me. That Japanese people were untrustworthy and they only cared about themselves." Hattai shrugged as Riku and Kuu listened attentively and Kai came out of the kitchen with snacks. "I made a deal with her... if you guys didn't show up, I would get on a plane that very day and go back to Wataar. But the three of you did show up. I was so happy!"

"Proving your mom wrong. Alright!" Kai high-fived with Hattai. Sae and Sayaka stood around, looking at the scene wryly. The boys had really shot themselves in the foot this time; they had completely skipped out on a scheduled TV appearance. Those TV people didn't mess around and were probably seriously pissed that Persona had run off.

The ringing of the doorbell alerted them to the fact that someone was at the door, but Persona and Hattai didn't pay it any mind. Sae went to answer the door. The three men that had been hanging around Hattai before were back and they nodded to Sae gravely before parting to reveal an older woman dressed very much like Hattai, the quality of her clothes screaming out the fact that the woman was probably unbelievably wealthy.

"I'm sorry to bother you but, I am looking for my daughter, Hattai."

Sae's brow furrowed a bit... she had seen this woman before. But where?

"My men will stay outside." The middle-aged woman reassurred Sae. The female bodyguard nodded and finally stepped aside to let the Hattai's mother in, somehow knowing that this person should be treated with respect. Where had she seen this woman before...?

"MAMA?" Hattai jumped up as soon as she saw her mother.

"Hattai." The woman smiled at her daughter, then turned to Persona and quickly grabbed each of them and bussed a kiss on each of the members' cheeks. "And Persona! I saw your performance today and was seriously moved... you three remind me very much of Animal Crush before they split apart."

"OH MY GOD." Jiro was staring at the woman, recognizing her after taking several seconds to process it. "You can't be... WATAAR THE SEVENTH?"

"I am." The Queen grinned and her presence seemed to fill the room as the Japan nationals realized they were in the presence of royalty. "I am the Queen of the Kingdom of Wataar, Wataar the Seventh!"

"Then," Jiro spun to gape at Hattai. "You're-that means-Hattai is-"

Persona completed the sentence for Jiro. "A PRINCESS?"

Hattai grinned, a little embarassed that the truth had come out.

"You boys put a lot of soul into your song! It took me back to when I was young and studying in Japan. I had an idol obsession too," Wataar the Seventh grinned at her daughter's disbelieving look. "Animal Crush!"

A picture on the mantel caught her eye and she picked it up excitedly, brandishing it. "Here, here! This is the handsome young vocalist, Doggy Inuyama! the drummer, Usshi Ushijima. And this is the guitarist, Monkey Sarukawa! They were a hugely popular visual-kei group from 20 years ago!"

Riku, Kuu and Kai had heard this a while ago when Saeko had been talking about this group and ranting about how all the untalented newbies now didn't know the greats that paved the way for them.

"But one day," Queen Wataar's smile fell from her face. "One day before a concert, they broke up. I waited so long for the concert... but no-one came. And I cried when I heard it was because Monkey Sarukawa decided he wanted more money and broke off from the group. And there were rumours that there had been fighting and Usshi could no longer drum. That was a long time ago but I saw what people would do for money and I thought 'the Japanese people couldn't be trusted'! But after I saw you three perform, I thought 'THEY kept their promise. The Japanese people's hearts are alive and well'!"

"So, mama..." Hattai grinned at her mother.

"Oh-ho, you are tricky." Wataar the Seventh gave her daughter a sidelong look. "When you take the throne, you will definitely be a good ruler, Hattai."

"Thank you, mama." Hattai crossed her arms over her chest and bowed demurely to the leader of her people. Even though they were mother and daughter, Hattai knew she had to be respectful, especially in front of outsiders.

"I've restored diplomatic relations with Japan." Wataar smiled at her daughter. "I talked to the Prime Minister before-hand and I will talk to him at length about this."

"So..." The three members of Persona exchanged looks. They STILL didn't know how diplomatic relations with Wataar would effect them, but they just wanted to know one thing. "Does that mean Hattai doesn't have to go home?"

"Of course!" The Queen laughed, then paused and put her hands on her hips, the picture of a stern mother. "If she doesn't let idol-chasing get in the way of her schoolwork."

"ALRIGHT!" Persona enveloped Hattai in a hug. They were ecstatic! They had helped restore diplomatic relations! WHAT DID THAT MEAN? They didn't know but they were happy Hattai was staying!

The phone rang and Sayaka picked it up quickly as everyone celebrated.

"This is Kamonohashi Talent Agency."

"Hand the phone to Wataar the Seventh." The deep bass voice of a stranger commanded Sayaka. The bodyguard frowned.

"Who is this?"

"If you give her the phone, she'll know." The person said mysteriously. "Honestly, if I know where the Queen's whereabouts are, then obviously I'm in the know."

'Was it Queen Wataar's security?' Sayaka hesitantly addressed the Wataarian monarch.

"Um, Your Majesty, there's a phone call for you."

The Queen raised an eyebrow, puzzled, but came over to take the call. Perhaps it was the Prime Minister? She HAD told him she was going to be at Persona's agency to speak to the boys.

"This is Wataar the Seventh." The queen said suspiciously.

"I'm sorry for what happened twenty years ago."

The Queen would recognize this voice anywhere. Back when she was a just a young woman, this voice would sing her to sleep at night.

"Doggy?" Her excitement made everyone quiet down and listen in on Wataar the Seventh's conversation. "Is this Doggy Inuyama? There's no way I would forget this voice..."

Queen Wataar could feel tears running down her face. When her idols had let her down, she had been completely disillusioned. Everything was a lie, they didn't care about their fans! They just cared about the money they made! But even though she had angrily left Japan, she had been so hurt... she had wished to just hear Doggy Inuyama crooning out those lyrics, to hear Sarukawa on his guitar and Usshi jamming on his drums... with Doggy's voice in her ear, she could imagine she was a student again, falling asleep to Animal Crush. The burden of the crown, which was oh so heavy when she had been so very young, was bearable and everything was right with the world.

"I really wanted to see all of my fans. I truly, truly did. All of these years, I've been trying to make up for it." Doggy apologized. "Keep us alive in your heart, Queen Wataar. I think about all of you every day. And I'm so sorry for letting you down."

The line went dead and Sayaka and Sae helped the queen sit down on the couch as the tears continued coming, but a smile stayed on her face. At least Doggy hadn't forgotten about the fans. He said he remembered and she trusted him. All was right with the world again.

"How did he know she was here?" Riku questioned as he brought out a cup of water for the queen.

"You guys!" Marilyn suddenly appeared.

"Woah! Where did you come from?" Kai blinked at the secretary. "How'd you get in?"

"Saeko and I were inside and heard you guys talking. She's outside making a phonecall right now." Marilyn held up her key. "And I have a key."

"Shachou's here?"

"Yes." The black-decked president of Kamonohashi Talent Agency walked in and bowed before Queen Wataar. "Your Majesty, it's an honour to have you here."

"It's an honour to meet such fine, young talents." The Queen had finally stopped crying and smiled up at them. Suddenly, the front door burst open and Wataar's men were there making a protective circle around Queen Wataar and her daughter, the press pouring in through the front door.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD-" Saeko started but was cut off as the various reporters tried to get their questions in.

"Persona, tell us how you feel!" They pressed in, but Sayaka and Sae pushed them back, a wall between the mob and Persona. The press were throwing questions at the boys and the Queen and her daughter indiscriminately. They were like a pack of piranhas in the clutches of a feeding frenzy.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Can you please look here-"

"Your Majesty, what happened with Persona to make you change your mind?"

"Persona! How does it feel to help Japan restore relations with Wataar?"

"How did you do it?"

"How do you feel?"

The reporters pressed in excitedly against Persona and their bodyguards but for Queen Wataar and her daughter, the reporters kept a respectful distance, knowing better than to approach as the Queen's bodyguards weren't above harming the reporters and were loudly saying so. Nobody wanted to step on Wataar's toes anyways, lest she change her mind about diplomatic relations.

"Ray's disappearance from today's TV appearance, does it have anything to do with Persona?"

"WHAT?" Kai's ears caught that shouted question immediately, his insides tightening with anxiety. Ray was missing? Flashbacks of the incident with Keigo made his blood run cold. "What? You: what was that about Ray again?"

As Kai shouted from behind his bodyguards for answers, another question caught Riku's ears.

"How do you feel about the truth of your scandal coming to light? Are you angry?"

"What?" Riku was confused. "What?"

"Kuu! Kuu!" One reporter was shouting for the baby-faced member of the group.

"Yes?" Kuu called out.

"Is it true that you're in love with Shinoda Mariko and the two of you were involved when you were in Okinawa?"

"LIES!" Kuu was outraged! "Those are all lies!"

"What about that photoshoot you and Shinoda-san were in recently?" Hattai called out. Wait until Sashihara-san heard this bit of gossip!

"That was an accidental photo op!" Kuu sputtered, trying to save himself from the rumours. Marilyn struggled to the TV remote and turned on the TV hanging on the wall in the living room as Saeko tried to push out the press. It sure was packed! The secretary flipped channels until she got a news channel that was just winding down their talk about Wataar's restoration of relations with Japan. The next segment was on Persona, the group of the hour.

"With their involvement in resolving the misunderstandings Wataar had with Japan, Persona's popularity has been on the rise again. This young group had almost disappeared into obscurity because of the leader, Riku, having a possible gay affair with a mystery man."

The photo that was in all the scandal rags flashed across the TV, making Riku blush. Honestly! He wasn't even kissing Katsuyuki-san in that photo!

"However, new photos have come into the light and the magazine who first published Riku's scandalous photos is apologizing for the hardship they might have caused the group." Another set of photographs flashed across the scene as the announcer spoke, pictures of the same incident, but from a different angle. It was definitely from the same photographer, though, and it showed Riku determinedly fixing the mystery man's hair... and spending quite some time doing it while seemingly rebuking the man and punching him good-naturedly on the arm. All really innocent stuff that very nicely killed Riku's scandal photo.

"The mystery man is actually a friend of Riku's and the scandalous photos were actually taken from a certain angle to make it appear as if they were being intimate."

"Why is the news reporting on stuff like this?" Kai wondered aloud. It seemed like news channels reported on a lot of gossip nowadays... "And seriously, answer the question: What about Ray?"

"...Riku's relationship with Oshima Yuko has also just come to light!"

"WHAT." Riku deadpanned as he watched the news in horror, like how one would watch a car accident about to happen. He just couldn't turn away as the familiar dimpled face of the tiny actress appeared. There was Yuko, sitting there at a press conference with a none too please Ohori Megumi by her side.

"I decided to come forward because it seems like all these rumours have seriously hurt my boyfriend." Yuko said, totally serious as cameras kept on flashing. "Riku of Persona and I, Oshima Yuko, have been involved in a relationship since filming the Okinawan storyarc in 'Three Sisters'."

Riku was just so shocked, he hadn't known how to react. He was dimly aware that bursts of light were going off around him, possibly from cameras... but all he was aware of now was a dull ringing in his ear and his face heating up to an unbearable level. There would be several unflattering shots of him the next day with his mouth hanging open and his ears burning a deep red.

"Woooo!" Kuu forgot about his own problems for a while and nudged Riku. "Look at your girllllfriend. All protective and stuff."

"I... I..." Riku couldn't find the words, still gaping at the television.

"...trust me, he's really not gay." Yuko grinned. "Riku could be really passionate when he wants to."

'Oh. My. GOD.' That was the only thought running through Riku's head at the moment. He wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and just DIE from embarassment! He was distracted, however, as the press parted, pushed away by four big men.

"Hiro!" Sayaka called to her boyfriend, then blushed. It was funny seeing the hulking man blush too at the sight of Sayaka.

"Official business." Hiro muttered as he moved aside. Within the protective ring of bodyguards, Ray appeared. The press went crazy. Kai had slipped under Sae and Sayaka's arms, worry etched on his face.

"Idiot! People were saying you went missing! I was so worried!" Kai hissed, disregarding everyone around as cameras turned on them.

"You were?" There was a tiny hopeful smile on Ray's lips.

"Kai, Kai!" The press shouted excitedly. There had been rumours of course, ever since Okinawa when Ray showed up to hang around with the Three Sisters' actresses and Persona. Ray didn't hang around with people. No way. So everybody had thought something was going on... Nobody was able to confirm it though and didn't want to print anything without proof because of Monkey Pro's wrath. But... if they could get some proof now, this scoop would blow everything else out of the water!

"Kai, what's your relationship with Ray?"

"Ray, Ray, over here! Smile!"

"Ray, congratulations on your new single!"

"Ray, why did you run off from your scheduled appearance today?"

Ray chose the last question to answer.

"I came to see how Persona was doing." Ray answered graciously. "When they didn't appear today, I was really worried since they've been having a bit of trouble-"

"Who's fault is that?" Kuu grumbled to Riku.

"-so I came here to check on them." Ray finished, her eyes still locked with Kai.

"You skipped out on your tv appearance?" Kai hissed, disbelieving.

"I came to see you." Ray whispered, biting her lower lip uncertainly. "I... I wanted to see you. And we weren't done our talk."

"What's your relationship with Kai?" One excited reporter shouted. The Diva smiled slyly at the blonde, the only warning he got.

'Shit.' Was the last thought in Kai's head as Ray draped her arms around Kai's shoulders, closed her eyes and kissed him in front of all the cameras.

"I'm in love with Kai." Ray whispered, the cameras catching every word.

"Oh dear." It was just a little bit of an understatement on Marilyn's part. Kai was too shell-shocked to do anything except gape like a fish.

As the press roared, foreign-looking men pushed into the house and were now, none-too-gently, throwing out anyone who didn't belong. The men all had the same colouring as the Wataarians and Sayaka rightly assumed that they were probably the retainers of Wataar the Seventh.

"No, no, not that one!" Riku reached forward and grabbed Jiro, before the men could chuck him out.

"Thanks!" Jiro grinned at Riku for the save. Before Riku could even reply with a 'you're welcome', someone called his name. Or rather, HER name.

"ASAHI!" One of the reporters shouted. Riku immediately looked towards the door at a retreating reporter, making eye-contact with him. He smiled at Riku, then slipped out the door.

What was that? Riku blinked. Did he imagine it? But nobody else seemed to have heard the reporter except him...

"Your country does not know how to protect foreign dignitaries!" One of the guards snapped at Hiro in heavily accented Japanese, thinking Ray's bodyguard was on the protective detail of the Queen of Wataar. The foreign bodyguards had surrounded the place and had closed and locked the door behind the reporters.

"Excuse me?" Hiro raised an eyebrow, his hackles raising. "Where the hell were YOU? Don't give me that crap!"

"We were trying to get past the press that YOU lot hadn't been able to keep away from the Queen!" The guard who was arguing with Hiro was obviously the leader of the pack of Wataarian bodyguards. "If your people so much as touch a HAIR on Her Majesty's head-"

"_My captain._" Wataar the Seventh's voice could be heard now that the press had been evicted and it was a lot more quiet. She spoke in the fine tones of the language of Wataar. "_I am fine. And I was the one who ran off._"

"_My Queen._" The captain fell to his knees in front of the Queen with his arms crossed over his chest. He did the same for Hattai, his expression stern. "_Princess, your people have missed you. Your loyal servant has also missed you._"

"The absence of your humour has been felt, too, Captain." Hattai spoke in Japanese, nodding imperiously, acting very much like a princess right now. "Your presence was missed."

"Woah." Kuu blinked at Hattai's princess-like attitude but grinned when Hattai looked up and beamed at him. Princess or no princess, Hattai was Hattai.

* * *

"He looked at me when I called out 'Asahi'." The reporter leaned down, close to the window of the car. Kuroda nodded and slipped an unmarked brown envelope to the nameless reporter, thick with money. "Thank you, sir."

The reporter left hurriedly, having done his job while Kuroda sat there, brooding. His hunch had been right. He looked down at the poster of Persona he had in his hands, his eyes fixed on Kuu's face.

"Damn it."

* * *

endnote: I always wondered where the hell the security detail for the Queen of Wataar was. Low-budget dramas get no love. lol


	34. Chapter 34

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 34

author's note: I actually was finished this right after chapter 33, but forgot to post it up. LOL. HAhahaha... though some people might not find it that funny. And here we are, getting down the the grand finale now. Crap, this has been such a long frickin' story...

* * *

It had all been a little bit much. Really. Who knew that they had gotten caught up in Yakuza business? After everyone left and it was only the boys, their management, bodyguards and Jiro; the blonde papparazzo had informed them of what he had found. Weapons-smuggling. The Ushijima group, a small upstart clan was planning a hostile take-over. They would be smuggling the weapons in from the Philippines, various politicians were involved, even some high-ranking cabinet members. And there was plenty in these documents to tell them that there were some police that were heavily involved, but no names had been mentioned. The Ushijima family were arming themselves for a war and it would most likely touch civilians.

Secrets had come tumbling out when Saeko heard the name Ushijima, and the whole sordid tale of Animal Crush came out. The Yakuza in charge was actually Usshi, the drummer, from Animal Crush. Bitter about his bandmates destroying his dream of becoming an idol and unable to do anything else, he became a street hoodlum and rose to the top quickly because of his utter ruthlessness. He never attacked his old bandmates, though Saeko never knew why. And that was when another little secret came out: Kamonohashi Saeko had not always been Saeko. She had not always been a she. The president of Kamonohashi Talent Agency had once been a man named Doggy Inuyama, the vocalist of Animal Crush. Marilyn had left, shocked and unable to cope. Persona were shocked too, but after months of seeing 'L' things around the house, their ability to feel shock had been deadened.

The Yakuza's plans really brought them all down, even though they were on a high.

Their newest single, 'Christmas Present', had topped the charts. They had bumped off the Diva, who had been on the top of the charts forever... they had realized their dream. It was unbelievable that they had made it this far.

But with their involvement with the Yakuza, their management had all settled on the fact that, for the boys-the girls to be safe... Persona had to disappear. Sae and Sayaka had noticed that there had been a suspicious looking car parked near the Persona building and described Kuroda in detail, making it quite clear that the Yakuza knew about Persona, but were waiting to make a move.

"We can't even go to the police about this." Asahi was out of her Persona uniform with Jiro sitting beside her. He nodded emphatically.

"We don't even know which police officers to trust!" Jiro pointed out.

"It won't stop him even if we do manage to find someone to trust, we know Usshi has his fingers in everything. I'm thinking if you three come out into the open, they'll have you whisked away and none of us will know if the three of you are alive or dead." Saeko shook her head. "We have to move you guys out of the country."

"What?" The three plus Jiro yelped.

"He's Yakuza." Saeko said seriously. "And Usshi has always been stubborn; he won't stop once there's a job to be done. If he's trying to start a war, because of the secrecy involved, he'll want to plug the leaks. So all three of you are in very real danger and have to leave as soon as possible."

"NO!" Hinata pouted. "We're finally on Music 10's number one spot and we're going on next weekend as the number one! They're making a big deal out of it and we were gonna play our 'At The Top' song!"

They had discussed it in one of their night-time girl talks, talking about their dreams and how they had all wanted to perform their masterpiece, 'At The Top', to a live audience at least once. This song was something they had worked on together, it came out of Riku finally finishing his own personal song. Paul had mentioned casually that the three songs complimented each other really well. That was what got Kuu thinking and he had layered the music together with Nao's help, changing it but making sure stylistically and musically, it was three individuals in harmony. The small sample had been an instantaneous hit with everyone in the recording studio. Kai worked hard on the lyrics with Hideki, meshing in what Riku and Kuu gave him and spinning it so it was distinctly them, but flowed and transitioned well. Riku had played with the instrumentals with Paul and Candy so that the members of Persona all had a different sound on their verses and the chorus was all of their sounds wrapped together.

It was their masterpiece of the moment, the song they wanted people to remember them by. '3 Seconds' and 'Christmas Present' was great pop fodder, their personal songs like Kuu's 'Water' was awesome, but 'At The Top' was all of them and contained their blood, sweat and tears.

"I'll do anything to make Persona famous, but not at the cost of your lives." Saeko scowled. "I want you girls to succeed, but I also want you three to be alive to enjoy it!"

"She's right, you know?" Sayaka had been in on the discussion. "These guys don't play. You three should go into hiding because there's most likely going to be a price on your heads."

"We've got to bulk up on the security if you're thinking of going to perform." Sae gave Sayaka a pointed look, communicating silently with her partner.

"No. We can't let down our fans." Nami shook her head, not feeling right about this at all.

"WE'RE NOT HAVING THIS DISCUSSION." Saeko finally said, her voice calling for no more arguments. The girls were no good to anyone dead. And Saeko had promised the parents of these girls that they would be safe and happy.

"We're going." There was determination in Asahi's eyes. "We're not letting down our fans. We can leave straight after the concert, but we're not going to miss it. This is our dream, shachou. It's your dream, too, and we're just about to reach it. We're not just doing this for us, we're doing this for you, too."

Saeko looked at the three girls, so determined to give their fans the love that had been shown to them. They were all aware that it was the fans that helped their continued survival and everything, even though they had worked hard and the management worked hard; they succeeded because of the fans.

"We can manage around that." Sayaka rubbed her chin contemplatively. When Sae looked like she was about to protest, Sayaka put a reassuring hand on Sae's arm. "Trust me."

"Fine." Saeko took out her whip with a growl. "But don't think you three can just talk back to me like that!"

Hinata, Asahi and Nami screamed in horror as Saeko approached with her whip and Sayaka, Jiro and Sae backed up wryly. This was between the management and the young idols. They were gonna keep out of this!

* * *

Jiro had just left the house and Sae decided she was going to take a walk and told everyone she was going to get some food from the convenience store, leaving Sayaka alone to stay at the agency. Walking at a leisurely pace, she turned down a street that was not leading to the convenience store and continued along, humming to herself. She slowed down to a stop when she was right next to the black car parked in a deserted lot.

The tinted windows rolled down to reveal Kuroda. "Well?"

Sae shrugged. "You should be more careful. Someone might see us and the papparazzi are still hanging around."

"I gave you a job to do-"

"Hey, you just decided to ask us to help. Things come to those who wait and shit, you know?" Sae bared her teeth in a grin. "Sayaka's already jumpy enough as is. She's trying to keep it cool, but you know... what would really help is if you give us a bit more. Up the ante. How much is this worth to you?"

"When this is over, I'll give you everything you deserve." Kuroda responded darkly.

"Sounds like a threat." Sae's eyes narrowed. The silence was heavy as the Yakuza looked at the bodyguard through narrowed eyes.

"It's not. But don't push me." Kuroda warned. "I gave you half already, I'll give you the other half after this."

Sae shrugged again, not at all afraid. "Well, update: the boys, or should I say girls, will be sticking around, but Saeko wants to disappear them away from you guys."

"There's no place in the world they could go where we can't find them." Kuroda snapped.

"I know." Sae nodded. "So I'll make it so you guys don't have to search that long. They're going to perform at Music 10 next week. They WILL show up. There will be fans EVERYWHERE trying to get these boys and security crawling all over the place. But Sayaka and I will be leading them to a safe place. Right. To. You."

Kuroda nodded. "The underground parking lot."

"Sayaka'll let you guys in, give you some badges. You guys just gotta wait." Sae stood up and stretched. "Just remember not to screw up your aim. You want to make sure you kill them, right? I'll give you times and details, you just gotta get there in your pretty suit and tie."

Kuroda glared at the short-haired bodyguard.

"Hey, could you drop me off at the convenience store?"

Kuroda's tires squealed as he floored it, almost taking Sae out as he sped off angrily.

"Asshole!" Sae muttered. She had barely managed to step back! Getting to the convenience store, she bought a bunch of things. Maybe all the girls were still awake and they could eat the snacks together! Upon getting back, though, she saw that she had made the correct choice as they had a guest. Saeko stood there, looking exasperated as Asahi tried to beat a flower-bearing Yuko off of her.

"Get. LOST!" Asahi pushed Yuko away from her but the tiny actress was seriously like an octopus! She was clinging on like one and her hands were EVERYWHERE! "I said, get off me!"

"Why are you maaaaaad?" Yuko wailed. "I even told everyone our secreeeeet! Just to help you with your gay scandal!"

"Newsflash: I coulda done without your help. Some other photos surfaced putting me in the clear." Asahi huffed but stopped resisting. The dimpled woman HAD stepped out on a limb to try and put Riku in the clear. It was a bad decision though, as Yuko was immediately on Asahi, head nuzzling Asahi's boobs.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I'VE MISSED THIS!" Yuko's voice was muffled by Asahi's breasts but still understandable. Asahi was squawking, unable to form any words and was furiously slapping Yuko's head, trying to get the clinging actress to GET OFF!

"GET OFF!" Asahi screeched.

"Just about to." Yuko sighed, still motorboating her face in between Asahi's boobs and subtly humping the taller girl's leg.

"AH! Let go let go let go let go!" Asahi's face was bright red at the implications of Yuko's words and before Asahi could kill the actress, Nami wrestled Yuko away from Asahi.

"Boo, no fun!" Yuko pouted. Another ring at the door and Sayaka going to answer it produced Maeda Atsuko, who said hi to everyone before scowling at Nami.

"Acchan?" Nami blinked at the beautiful actress. "What are you doing here and why are you looking at me like that?"

"You kissed Ray on TV? Seriously? SERIOUSLY? After I offered to help you out?" Atsuko was playing, but she truly was just a little bit pissed.

"I didn't plan that at all!" Nami protested, still holding on to Yuko. "Ray ambushed me!"

"You still coulda done something, man. You're a dog." Yuko piped up, suddenly remembering that Atsuko and Kai were sorta dating. Sorta. But not really. This was so damn confusing.

"RAY. Of all people, right after I told you I could help you, I see you on TV making out with Ray." Atsuko might've tried to bury the hatchet with Ray, but when Ray was OBVIOUSLY trying to mark Nami as her own, Atsuko had real issues with that. Atsuko, no matter how nice she was, didn't like it when people tried to take her things away. She had siblings, so she knew when someone was trying to take something away from her!

"Oh ho, look at how jealous she is." Yuko teased.

"You took my plan too!" Atsuko stomped her feet a little bit and spun on Yuko. Atsuko had shared how she wanted to help Persona and Yuko had stolen the plan, arranged a press conference with Megumi and told the world Riku and her were dating!

"Hey, if you weren't gonna use the plan, then we shouldn't let it go to waste! And dating Kai doesn't put Riku in the clear." Yuko looked at Asahi with a sickeningly lovelorn gaze. "I wanted to help my Asahi."

"Megumi wanted to murder you." Atsuko shook her head, now refusing to look at Nami.

"Acchaaaaan," Nami whined.

"Do you hear anything?" Atsuko turned to Hinata and shrugged. "Cuz I don't hear anything. I especially don't hear someone who's not dating me any more."

"What? Acchannnn!" Nami let go of Yuko now and went to cling to Atsuko, who shook her off and hooked her arm in Hinata's.

"I'm marrying Kuu." Atsuko deadpanned. Nami puffed up her cheeks, looking adorably sullen.

"I'm soooo lucky!" Hinata gushed. The two girls turned away, laughing quietly to themselves, knowing this was bothering Nami.

"Acchan..." Nami whined, grabbing hold of Atsuko's arm and tugging it. "Acchan, come on! I didn't do anything!"

"Boys! How many other people know that you're girls?" Saeko barked out, looking slightly murderous. Everyone had forgotten about Kamonohashi Talen Agency's president for a moment.

"Um..." The 'boys' all froze and tried to count in their heads. "Uh..."

"Don't answer." Saeko rubbed the bridge of her nose. Without Marilyn here, she was fast losing patience with her kids. Their popularity hinged on them being ikemen idols and here they were, telling everyone that they were really girls!

"I'm going to go to sleep, tomorrow will be a big day. Sayaka, Sae, get them to the recording studio on time." Saeko shook her head. "I'm going to be hiring a couple more people for security. Seems like it's not just the Yakuza we have to deal with, the papparazzi and your fans are quite rabid. And all of you have an early meeting with the press... the Prime Minister might be there, so be on your best behaviour."

"The Prime Minister?" The boys squealed. "Why?"

"If Persona hadn't changed Wataar the Seventh's mind, our economy would have gone into a nosedive." Saeko sighed in exasperation. "Really, you kids need to pay more attention to world events, especially ones that you have a part in!"

"Ehhh..." They whined.

"Just get some sleep because you three need to get to TV Tohto by 7am tomorrow!" Saeko snapped. All three members of Persona bowed their heads to Saeko.

"OSU!" Just like that, their manager was gone.

"You think she's okay?" Asahi straighted up and asked. Marilyn had left, after all.

"She seems like her normal self." Nami shrugged.

Hinata shook her head, though. "I don't think she's very happy right now."

Nami took this opportunity to pull Atsuko away from Hinata, holding on to Atsuko's arm awkwardly.

"What do YOU want?" Atsuko sniffed icily.

"To say I'm sorry." Nami replied in a meek tone. "I really didn't mean it-"

"You don't mean to do a lot of things." Atsuko sighed wearily, but hugged Nami anyways. "I'm actually here to congratulate you guys. I heard you three beat out the Diva and you're number one on Music 10!"

Sae shared the snacks she had bought from the convenience store and when Asahi went to the kitchen to get drinks for everyone, Yuko sneaked off after her. Everybody had seen her go, of course, but they ignored the tiny actress.

"Asahi." Yuko grinned at the taller woman.

"Stay away." Asahi held the bottle of juice in front of her like it was a shield.

"Are you alright now?" Yuko stepped forward, ignoring the juice in Asahi's hands. The tall girl sighed, putting the bottle down on the counter.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You don't seem alright." Yuko continued pushing gently.

"I think," Asahi bit her lower lip. She was a little bit torn. Everything had turned out great... but she kept wondering about Ryouga. He had been a great friend, a great boyfriend... but she had hurt him badly. "I think I might have lead Katsuyuki-san on. And I feel kinda bad about that."

The whole story came out quickly as Yuko listened, quite seriously. She completely understood as Asahi sputtered to explain that she sort of didn't know how she had gotten into a relationship with the young director, not knowing how to say no, not knowing how to tell him. She had liked him, but it had been... awkward. He was a great guy, incredibly sensitive and attentive. She didn't want him to be angry at her.

"Well, you could always apologize again." Yuko suggested. "Mr. Gaymo was angry before, but from what I've heard of him, he's kinda reasonable-"

"His name isn't Mr. Gaymo." Asahi frowned at the shorter woman.

"You like attract ALL the gays." Yuko accused, just a little bit pissed even though there was still a smile on her face. Yuko was keeping her temper in check quite well, she had wanted to throw a fit when she heard Riku had been kissing some other guy even if it was sort of an accident!

"No!" Asahi denied.

"What about Mr. Gay Papparazzo?"

"His name is Jiro!"

"This is horrible. My fiancee attracting all these gay men-"

"Who's your fiancee?" Asahi crossed her arms. Yuko took the opportunity to trap Asahi against the counter.

"You." Yuko said seriously.

"Now who's being gay."

"I don't care. I will never find boobs as perfect as yours." Yuko started to lean forward but was kept away by Asahi pushing her face away.

"No. This is sexual harassment! SEXUAL HARASSMENT!" Asahi shouted desperately. Everyone outside in the living room could hear them, but just started talking louder and ignoring Asahi.

"Come on." Yuko pouted. "Pleeeeeeeeease, Asahi."

"No, I'm mad at you!" That slipped out quite by accident and Yuko looked up at Asahi, slack-jawed.

"WHY?" Yuko demanded to know childishly. SHE hadn't been making out with gay men!

"Because you were... you were... forget about it."

"Asahi, tell me, or else I can't fix it-"

"You were feeling up some other people's boobs! I saw on TV!" Asahi blurted out. "You said I was special!"

There was dead silence, except for a tiny snicker from the door. Nami and Hinata had peeked in and were trying hard not to laugh.

"Little miss tsundere is showing her soft side-ah!" The two retreated hurriedly as Asahi tried to heft a cup at them, but was stopped by Yuko grabbing her wrist.

"You were jealous?" The delighted twinkle in Yuko's eyes made Asahi growl and try to pull her hand away from Yuko, but the other girl held firm. "You WERE jealous!"

"Was not." Asahi pouted. Yuko let go of Asahi's hand and gently placed both her hands over Asahi's boobs, giving them an experimental squeeze. Perfect. They fit into her hands without a trace of sag, perky and soft like squishy clouds.

"Your boobs, are the most perfect boobs in the world." Yuko extolled. "If I were to never touch another boob again, your boobs would be the boobs I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"Really?" Asahi asked softly, warring between her need to beat Yuko to the ground for taking liberties again and wanting to hear what Yuko had to say.

"Yes." Yuko wished that Asahi's bra wasn't in the way of her groping. "I think I know what you saw... those two women on tv? Not the best boobs. They're too big, kinda reminded me of cow udders and nowhere near as perky as yours are. Yours are like... made with magic or something!"

Yuko shuddered at the thought of those other boobs. Horrible! There was too much and their cleavage had been kinda sweaty.

"I could rest on your boobs allllll day!" Yuko put her face right into the middle of Asahi's clothed breasts and started shaking her head in between them.

"Hm." A vein was jumping on Asahi's forehead, as she felt anger pulsing through her. The taller woman swatted Yuko's head until she moved away.

"Stingy!" Yuko blurted out tearfully and was about to try and grab those perfect boobs again. Asahi was surprisingly quick as she grabbed the smaller woman's wrists and pushed Yuko back, pinning the actress against the refrigerator. "After all I'm willing to do for you!"

"You are incorrigible." Asahi growled before dipping down and claiming Yuko's lips in a possessive kiss that burned Yuko all the way to the core. Asahi had to admit, she really liked it when she was the one on top and in control. Yuko kissed back fervently after getting over the initial shock of Asahi's impromptu kiss, pulling against Asahi's hold on her but unable to break Asahi's iron-like grip. Asahi's kiss was bruising and demanding, all-consuming and dominating. The smell of Asahi's shampoo enshrouded Yuko's senses and the small actress knew if she kept kissing Asahi like this, she would swoon like some damsel in distress. She was getting light-he-e-eadedddd...

The taller woman finally pushed away from Yuko, her lips swollen and sensitive from how aggressively she had been kissing Yuko, needing distance to be able to breath normally again. Of all the people she'd kiss-and Asahi could count them all on one hand-Oshima Yuko was, unfortunately, the best kisser of the bunch. Asahi would never tell Yuko this, though.

"Thank you, Yuko. I really appreciate what you did for me. Now be a good girl and bring the drinks." Asahi said casually, leaving the kitchen. Yuko took a few seconds to calm her heart down, her hands clasped over her heart, feeling like it was going to beat out of her chest.

"Finished in there?" Nami raised an eyebrow at Asahi's flushed face. The shortest member of Persona hid her face in Atsuko's shoulder when Asahi glared at her.

"I'd say not quite finished." Hinata had to add her two cents in, grinning.

"TEN MINUTES!" Yuko was rushing out with drinks, thrusting them into Sayaka's hands before turning back to Asahi. "TEN MORE MINUTES IN THE KITCHEN!"

"No." Asahi held up her hands. "Go away."

"You can't just start me up like that and expect me to NOT want more!" Yuko was just about to burst into tears from the frustration she was feeling. "You're a tease! A damn tease! You can't just kiss me and just cut it off like that! What the hell was that? WHAT WAS THAT KISS FOR?"

"It was an angry kiss." Asahi said petulantly.

"There is NO SUCH THING!" Yuko roared. "If I rape you now, no court in the world would convict me!"

Everybody just gaped at Yuko as she ranted pathetically and Asahi just sat down on the couch, crossed her legs and her arms, a smirk on her face. Asahi some times had her smarter moments and this was one of them. She had managed to turn what Yuko wanted into a way to torture the poor actress.

"You're totally doing this to drive me up the wall!" Yuko finally realized, incensed.

Asahi's smirk got a bit more pronounced. "That's for sexually harassing me."

"That was skinship." There was a dangerous gleam in Yuko's eyes. "You thought THAT was sexual harassment? Let me show you what sexual harassment is-"

"Sayaka, save me!" Asahi squeaked. Sayaka had Yuko by the collar before the small woman could jump Asahi.

"Aw, I was just joking!" Yuko whined as Sayaka walked her to the door and escorted her out of the house.

"Well played," Hinata clapped solemnly at Asahi's smug smile. "Well played."

However, they spoke too soon as a pounding on the front door told them Yuko wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

"Nyan-nyannnnn!" Yuko was howling outside. "Nyaaaaan. NYAAAAAN!"

They tried to ignore Yuko, but the tiny woman had taken to ringing the doorbell, pounding on the door AND howling Asahi's nickname. Asahi sighed wearily after several minutes of trying to ignore the other woman. "Sae, could you let the idiot in? Our neighbours are already angry at us because of the papparazzi hanging around. They don't need a crazy screaming through the night."

"Make up your mind, wouldja? Out or in..." Sae grumbled and went to open the door. Yuko ran back to Asahi's side, sitting at Asahi's feet and clutching Asahi's legs, rubbing her face against the taller woman's thighs.

"I'll just hold on to your legs. I love your legs too!" Yuko wheezed, not minding at all the Asahi was trying to use a rolled up magazine to smack her and try to push her away.

"It's like having a perverted chihuahua on you, isn't it?" Nami commented casually. Atsuko nudged Nami to get her to lay off teasing Asahi.

"Well, seems like EVERYONE'S here to celebrate with us. EVERYONE that matters of course!" Hinata crossed her arms, looking a little bit angry.

"Nao's not here-"

"I'm not talking about Nao or the recording crew. I know they're here in spirit." Hinata pouted. "I mean of the Okinawan crew."

"Mayu?" Nami deliberately misunderstood. "The Tomomis?"

"No." Hinata muttered. "The stupid dinosaur. I thought we were enemies. ARCH-ENEMIES. Why isn't she here with you guys? Not even a frickin' mail..."

"Your 'arch-enemy' is under management enforced house arrest and has had her phone taken from her for a while." Atsuko answered, rolling her eyes at the thought of Mariko and Hinata's combined childishness. "Our manager is giving her a time-out. Apparently, Mariko heard some newbie in our company talking bad about Persona and she decked him in the face. He's not pressing charges or talking about it because he doesn't want people to know he was KO'd by a girl."

"She decked someone? For us?" Hinata perked up happily. "She does care!"

"Sorta glad she's not here though, cuz we'll have to go back into costume." Nami leaned over and muttered into Atsuko's ear. The short girl liked Mariko and all, but tonight after all the hustle and bustle, she REALLY wanted to be out of her boys clothes and relax in her own skin and real identity.

"Here, that reminds me: she made me record this video for you." Atsuko took out her phone and quickly started playing a video for Hinata. There was Mariko on the screen, with her eyes crossed, pretending to be buck-toothed and bobbing her head to an invisible beat.

"I'm a buck-toothed GACHAPIN-Gachapin-GACHAPIN, my name is KUuuuuu and I'm an iiiiidiot." It was just three seconds of ridiculousness but it sent Hinata into a rage.

"I'LL KILL HER!" Hinata hollered. "I'll kill her in her sleep!"

As everyone tried not to laugh and tried to talk Hinata down, three phones alerted their owners that they had messages.

* * *

"Okay..." Riku had taken a break from recording, they had been trying to finish up their songs, just in case after the concert they seriously had to disappear. Saeko had told them that all their songs would be put out as singles first, for sales reason, then put together into their first album. It was a sneaky way to get people to buy more CDs. They had a lot of work to do all week after the press conference and this was the first time he had time to slip away by himself.

Riku read the message she had gotten from Ray a couple days ago.

_Please please meet me for lunch in my dressing room, some time this week when you are free. I want to talk._

Riku arrived at Ray's dressing room door about the same time Kuu and Atsuko did.

"Atsuko?" Kuu blinked at the actress. "What are you doing here?"

"What are YOU two doing here?" Riku shoved his phone into his back pocket.

"I could say the same thing." Atsuko smiled at the two. They were all interrupted by the door opening and Ray appearing before them.

"Good afternoon." Ray looked around in amusement. "I see all of you got my message."

She had sent the same message to all three of them and now ushered them into her dressing room. Ray had food and drinks laid out and told them to help themselves. Kuu dug in right away while the other two watched Ray warily.

"This is sort of like... a peace offering-a new beginning." Ray started nervously. It was... hard trying to ASK instead of DEMANDING something. The possibility of them rejecting her offer was high.

"ALRIGHT!" Kuu grinned, stuffing his face. ALL was forgiven in the face of such wonderful food!

"What is this?" Riku crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. It still stung, Ray's underhanded move to destroy Persona.

"I want to start over and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to do it." Ray had started re-evaluating everything about herself after Kai's disapproval. And she found that... she didn't like the person that she was now. The people closest to her visibly flinched when she talked and people would run from her at the first sign of displeasure. Even Tomochin would sometimes treat her with kid gloves. The hair and make-up artist tried to be subtle about it, but Ray would notice that Tomochin tried her best to avoid topics that would upset her.

"You're only doing this because of Kai." Riku said harshly. "You don't really care about actually making us happy-"

"I do." Ray blurted out, horribly embarassed. She truly did. Ray didn't want people to flinch around her anymore... she wanted her PAs to stop having such a high turn-over rate so she could remember their names. The Diva wanted Hiro to not look at her with that panicked 'I'd-rather-be-anywhere-but-here' look. And she'd like to see Tomochin more on a casual basis, not just when the fashionable woman had to rush to Ray's side for damage-control.

Kai reminded her of who she had been, at the beginning before she started cutting herself off and building up her image of the Diva. Kai reminded her of her grandfather who had pushed her to be ambitious, but had always tried to lead by example and showed her that kindness was a virtue he treasured.

Somewhere on the path to success, Ray had forgotten that and had buried the Reiko Torao had raised.

"I just want another chance to start all over. I'm truly sorry for... everything."

Atsuko had stayed silent through the whole thing and still remained silent; Riku didn't look too forthcoming with the chances but Kuu paused to take a drink before nodding.

"Okay!" Kuu gave Ray a thumbs-up.

"What?" Atsuko and Riku both chorused, cutting a look at Kuu.

"Why not?" Kuu shrugged. "Everyone makes mistakes. And come on, she seems really sorry about that and I'm pretty sure she fixed it up so those other pictures of you came out and put you in the clear. If that didn't happen, there probably would STILL be rumours about you being gay!"

That was true. Sashihara had contacted Kuu to update him on what the fans thought and those pictures HAD helped a lot. Even restoring relations with Wataar hadn't helped as much as those pictures had in clearing Riku's name. And also, of course, Oshima Yuko's little revelation about her and Riku's 'relationship'.

"And isn't it better to have a kinder, gentler Ray then to have a mean, destructive Ray?" Kuu reasoned. "I mean, we can keep saying 'Gosh, why is Ray such a b-word I cannot say!' and cut her off and maybe she'll give up on the whole niceness thing. Or we can give her a chance and she can be nice to us!"

Ray had glared at Kuu when he was about to say the 'b' word, having not lost an ounce of her Diva-ness even though she said she would change. There were just SOME things that Ray would not stand for and that was people calling her names like that!

"You... make sense." Riku conceded.

"Can I ask you a question?" Maeda Atsuko finally spoke up. "I saw you on television. You really are still set on having a relationship with Kai, aren't you?"

Ray nodded. "I am."

"What if I told you it was a bad idea?"

Ray laughed a bit, a hollow kind of desperate laugh. "I've sunk this far, right? I can't pull myself out."

"Maybe it's a little bit unhealthy-" Atsuko tried again.

"What I was before was unhealthy." Ray shrugged. "I've never been happier. Because now I realized... things could be better."

When her grandfather had died, Ray had ignored the gaping hole that had been left behind when he had been torn away from her so suddenly. She grieved briefly by herself but kept everything inside, internalizing it until the wound had festered and taken away any happiness she felt. Ray filled the void with work and kept herself busy with staying at the top of her game. Nobody called her out on her bad behaviour, nobody tried to ask why was it that she had such vicious mood swings and why her temper overwhelmed her sometimes. It wasn't until Kai came along that it shocked her out of her mood and Kai was the first person to show that he cared.

Of course, it was more that he showed that he didn't give a crap about her attitude. He yelled at her, not caring at all for the shield of haughtiness she put up. Kai didn't care that she was the Diva, in fact, he seemed to shun that persona. Kai cared about Ray, though. In the way he smiled at her when Ray smiled at him, how he wanted her to learn how to swim, how Ray could see that he delighted in her happiness. And when she had sang just for him, Ray had seen how deeply she had cleaved herself to Kai, how deeply he had rooted into her. And in his eyes, she saw how firmly HE had enmeshed himself in RAY.

"I know he's dating his bodyguard, but I'm pretty sure he cares about me-"

"Wait. What?" Atsuko frowned. "Kai isn't dating his bodyguard."

Kai seemed to have left out telling Atsuko about this little detail and Kuu and Riku looked at Atsuko in alarm, trying to silently tell her to SHUT THE HELL UP.

"What?" Ray's eyes narrowed.

"He's not dating anyone. I would know." Atsuko was too caught up in her feelings of jealousy concerning Kai. It was strange how proprietary the girls in Kai's life (his sisters, the Diva, Maeda Atsuko) felt, in regards to Kai. "He would tell me."

"So he LIED to me!" Ray looked almost gleeful at that as she turned on Kai's bandmates. "TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW."

Even though Ray had said she was turning over a new leaf, it was difficult to turn off Diva mode and when she turned her eyes on Riku and Kuu, they balked.

"HEDIDN'!" Kuu blurted out fearfully. Ray's crazy-happy look was scary! "It was just a misunderstanding!"

"He just wanted to break up with you because he thought he was being unfair to you!" Riku continued, breaking into a sweat when Ray pinned him with a look.

"How?" Ray frowned.

"HE'S SORTA DATING ATSUKO!" The two squeaked. Atsuko froze as Ray narrowed her eyes at Atsuko.

"Just... because we had a misunderstanding." Atsuko tried her best not to wilt under Ray's heated gaze. "He fell asleep in my room one night in Okinawa and Mariko and Yuko saw him come out of my room and that was the only explanation I could think of because they weren't accepting the whole 'we were just sleeping' explanation. So then we had to pretend we were dating and keep up a front. And then... okay. You know what. Lets not concentrate on me. The whole thing is that everything is a misunderstanding because that stupid STUPID boy seems to just have so many of those and Kai's not ready to date anyone so it would be unfair of him to do so."

"If he was, would you be my rival?" Ray asked softly.

Atsuko bristled, not wanting to answer this question. "Kai's my friend."

Ray nodded, letting it slide relunctantly. She was trying to patch things up with Kai's closest friends, not start something else!

"Well, I'm sorry for everything I've done. And just for being a horrible person most times. I know maybe we'll never get to the level of friends," Ray spoke haltingly, feeling awkward. She glared down at her hands, willing herself to get through this speech. "But I want to be... less of a horrible person."

Kuu looked over at Atsuko and Riku, giving a little pout. Ray looked so pitiful! Finally, Riku sighed and nodded.

"This is your only chance." Riku said aloud, knowing that it needn't be said but wanting to say it anyways. If Kai ever forgave Ray, if she ever pulled something like this again, there would be no second chances.

Kuu nodded agreeably, then reached forward to place a hand on Ray's hand. The songstress flinched. "You're not horrible. If you were, Kai wouldn't even talk to you."

"Kai still isn't really talking to me." Ray huffed sadly. Kuu and Riku exchanged looks. Ray wouldn't get the chance to, after this concert. Sae and Sayaka had said they would probably have to cut themselves off from everyone for a while. Persona might no longer exist... but at least this Music 10 performance, they can do it up for their fans. Because EVERYONE and their mother was interested in Persona right now, Music 10 had decided to do a special and have the show filmed in a concert hall with all the top ten performing like it was a concert. The tickets had been sold out within twenty minutes of them going on sale. All the top names, on Music 10 would be there, so it wasn't just Persona fans, but fans of all the other people on the charts.

"Do you think he's still angry?" Nobody really knew the answer so they didn't reply to Ray's question. She pursed her lips, their conversation was quickly drying out. "Um... how did Kuu and Riku get here without Kai knowing?"

"He's practising, in pure work mode." Kuu shrugged. "Didn't even eat yet."

"Oh." Ray perked up. "I could cook-"

"NO!" Riku shouted in horror. They didn't need one of their members down due to food poisoning! "I mean. Uh. No. No thanks. Kai's gonna be eating with Candy and Paul, they're working on his song and they really don't want to be interrupted."

"Oh." Ray wilted a bit. "Well, please eat. Don't hold back on my account."

Riku and Atsuko finally started on the food spread out before them and as empty stomachs got filled, they fell into a comfortable silence.

* * *

The house that served as Kamonohashi Talent Agency was filled to the brim with people. It was the night before the big Music 10 filming and Saeko was the one who had suggested the party. The recording crew was invited, everybody they were close with in Okinawa, a couple of producers and assistants from TV Tohto who had been good to the boys, Ruby Gates and of course, Katsuyuki-san were also invited. Unfortunately, Katsuyuki-san was a no show and had sent his regrets with a beautiful arrangement of flowers congratulating Persona on taking the top spot. Ruby Gates also sent his regrets but had called the boys to give them a little pep-talk. Riku, despite the festive occassion, was noticeably put out after finding out Katsuyuki-san was still avoiding him.

"Cheer up!" Kai nudged Riku, a glass of orange juice in one hand. Everybody was here! Atsuko had gone off to get Kai some fruits and cheeses, Mariko and Kuu were happily arguing with each other and Yuko was currently attached to Riku's arm as the taller young man tried to discreetly shake off the dimpled-smile actress.

"All our friends are here!" Kuu had taken a break from Mariko to go and sling an arm around Riku's shoulders. Megumi was hitting on all the young girls, Paul was laughing it up with a set assistant Persona had met in Okinawa; even Mayu was wandering around and seemed to be having a good time.

"Well, the Tomo's are late." Kai glanced at his watch.

"We're not enough for you?" Atsuko was at Kai's side suddenly with a plate of cheeses and fruits. "You want to hit on the Tomo's too?"

"It's not like that!" Kai whined. Since the Ray thing, Atsuko had been needling him about his philandering ways. Of course, it wasn't just her. Everybody AND their relatives had seen the most popular celebrity in all of Japan kiss Kai on national television.

"Hey," Hideki had been nearby and had heard Atsuko start on Kai. "The crew and I wanna know how come you never made a move on Candy or Nao?"

Candy and Nao had suddenly appeared too, curious about Kai's answer.

"I... uh..." Kai felt sweat start to form on his forehead as Candy GLARED at him. "It's not that I don't think you're pretty, Candy..."

"What about me?" Nao crossed her arms, the very picture of icy disapproval.

"Uh... uh..." Kai blinked rapidly, not knowing that Candy and Nao were just trying to make him sweat. "I... uh... I don't know... I-I-I think you're both great... uh... crap... I..."

Everybody was trying hard not to laugh as Kai struggled to explain himself. It really was all his fault. He just kept getting into situations like these and they couldn't help it that Kai was so easy to wind up.

"You're cheating on Acchan, again, shortie?" Mariko was on hand to add her two cents.

"He's not cheating. I'm breaking up with him." Atsuko crossed her arms.

Mariko looked at Atsuko. "Seriously?"

"Yup." Atsuko answered. Immediately, Mariko high-fived Atsuko.

"HEY!" Kai complained. "Seriously?"

As they heckled the young man, who was getting more and more flustered, nobody noticed the new guests that had just arrived. Saeko, however, had noticed and immediately went to greet them before pointing out the boys. The new guests made their way over and the room full of people parted for the VIP.

"Konbanwa." Ray's unmistakable voice made everyone freeze. A glance at Kai could see that he had stiffened up considerably and an unreadable look had come over his face. Ray had come with Tomochin and Kasai, the writer seemed oblivious to the tension in the air and greeted the people she recognized excitedly.

"Riku, Kuu." Ray nodded at the boys and even managed a tiny smile at Atsuko. "Maeda."

Kai's eyes were everywhere but on Ray, his mouth seemed to have difficulty deciding whether to smile or to grimace. After their very public coming out as a couple (totally Ray's fault), Kai had told Ray he wasn't ready to talk to her yet and to give him some space. She had agreed, even though she had wanted to cry. Ray knew this was way too soon to see him, but... she really just wanted to see him.

"Kai." Ray's voice was barely above a whisper but he heard her, his eyes dancing to her face immediately, before skittishly travelling away.

"Hi. Tomochin, Kasai-san... Ray." Kai grunted. "Make yourselves at home. Could you guys excuse me for a bit?"

Kai fled the scene, not wanting to talk to Ray in front of everyone. The expression on Ray's face was heartbreaking and infuriated Tomochin so much that she made off to follow Kai.

"Tomochin," Ray grabbed hold of Tomochin, to stop the stylist from going after Kai. The Diva nodded to the food spread. "Lets get something to eat first."

Tomochin pouted. Ray had talked to her, explained what had happened, what she had done, the misunderstandings concerning Kai and Atsuko... but all Tomochin really wanted was for Ray to be happy. Tomochin accepted that Ray had brought all the bad things on herself... but Ray was willing to change. The songstress had seemed more focused, less explosive and more willing to compromise nowadays. Ray deserved a second chance.

Tomomi told Ray and Tomochin to go to the food spread without her, as she wanted to catch up with Riku and Kuu, who were equally happy to see her. The Diva and the stylist went to the food laid out of them on a long table, pretending not to notice Mayu sidling up to them.

"Give him some space." Mayu stood beside them at the table for food, browsing casually. "He just needs some time."

"How much time does he need?" Tomochin grumbled as she grabbed some chicken wings and put white vinegar, relish and sugar on top of them. People watching Tomochin pile food on her plate turned green at her mix of condiments with the food.

"I'll give him as much as he wants." Ray whispered. She'll be patient even though all she wanted to do was run into Kai's arms again, to kiss him again. Meanwhile, Kuu, Riku, Mariko and Yuko were huddled together, gossiping while Tomomi had wandered off to talk to the director of Three Sisters about story ideas.

"Who invited Ray?" Riku looked around at everyone in the huddle. Everybody shook their heads.

"Bet you it's shachou." Kuu nodded towards their president who was milling about with Megumi and chastising the woman for teasing the younger girls at the party. Megumi was trying to explain that if Saeko insisted on inviting all these DELECTABLE little tidbits, it would be a crime for Megumi not to have a taste!

"How do we get rid of her?" Mariko narrowed her eyes.

"Well, lets just let her stay." Yuko knew what it was like to like somebody a lot. It was like how she liked Asahi! ... but her relationship with Asahi was nowhere near as crazy and intense as Ray and Kai's, oh no no no no. Those two were like, totally depressive. Her and Asahi were like... rainbows and sunshines! They were like two bunnies, bursting with sexual energy, waiting to frantically be going at it-

"Whatever you're thinking, stop it." Riku suddenly interrupted Yuko.

"I wasn't thinking anything!" Yuko protested, even though she HAD been thinking something.

"Get off-" Riku tried to struggle out of Yuko's grasp for the nth time this evening.

"I'm telling you, we get some time alone, and I can get off pretty damn quickly." Yuko said bluntly. Her sexual innuendoes were less innuendo and more mallet-to-the-face kind of comments nowadays. Now that they were 'official', Yuko was doing everything in her power to convince Riku that she needed AT LEAST third-base bragging rights after helping Riku out! The tall man didn't know if his 'girlfriend' was just a nympho or it was because she had an imaginary list that she just HAD to tick off!

"Hey." Mariko suddenly noticed something. "Where the hell is Kai and Atsuko?"

The two missing people were actually hiding at the top of the stairs. Nobody was supposed to go upstairs, but Kai had taken Atsuko by the hand and sneaked up the stairs without anybody noticing. There was definitely an advantage to being really small.

"You're really not talking to her?" Atsuko and Kai were watching Ray, who was awkwardly trying to make small talk with a group of people from the Okinawa film crew. They were fans of Ray, but the Diva had been a lot less approachable last time. This time, they had sensed a change and decided to corner their idol. "She seems so uncomfortable right now... maybe you should go talk to her."

"No. I feel like she's doing alright by herself." Kai shrugged, but secretly, he was proud of Ray. She actually was trying, but not to the point where it was pathetic. Ray was firm when she wanted to leave a conversation but she tried to be gracious. "This is good for her. Look at her, actually MINGLING."

Atsuko leaned her head against Kai's shoulder. "You know, I told Ray we were sorta fake-dating."

"What? Why?" Kai turned his head to try and peer down at Atsuko's face.

"It was an accident." Atsuko said sheepishly. "But now she knows."

Atsuko quickly went over her little lunch meeting with the Diva and Kai's fellow bandmates.

"And really, how did you get into that whole 'I'm dating Sayaka' lie?" Atsuko pinched Kai's thigh lightly. "You really are horrible."

"That really was an accident and Ray just took that misunderstanding and ran with it." Kai explained weakly as he rubbed his thigh. "And before I could explain, she had already left. And I had said some bad things..."

"You need to check your temper, little man." Atsuko remembered when Kai had snapped at her in Okinawa, too. The blonde seemed to always be ready to step up to the plate and really, he could be scary when he does. "It's going to get you in trouble one of these days."

"I know." Kai moaned, wrapped an arm around Atsuko's shoulder. "I say things without thinking. I'm sorry for getting angry at you that time... and that's one of the reasons why I don't want to talk to Ray. Like she totally manipulated the situation before. What if this is her way of trying to get me and manipulate it so that she gets what she wants again?"

"That's all she's been trying to do, get you." Atsuko pointed out. "At least this time, she's not using an underhanded way to get to you."

"Being nice IS underhanded." Kai replied grumpily. He sighed, trying to push thoughts of Ray to the back of his mind as he concentrated on the girl beside him.

"After this... when will I see you again?" Kai closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to memorize his Acchan's scent, thinking about how grave their situation was. Persona would have to disappear for a time, the time being indeterminate. It was scary, but it was better than winding up dead.

"Silly, we'll make time to see each other no matter how busy our schedules get. I'll always make time for my ex-boyfriend." Atsuko said jokingly. Kai nodded, feeling bad that he couldn't tell the actress what was going on, more for her protection than his own. The boys had yet to tell their family and they were sort of dreading it... Saeko had said she'd take them to their family after the concert, though. A last farewell.

Kai watched Ray as she stayed near Tomochin and Kasai. Kuu was being nice and had actually gone up to the songstress and started chatting with her, bringing along a noticeably relunctant Riku with Yuko attached.

"Hey, Acchan," Kai drew away from Atsuko to look at the actress seriously. "Why do you think Ray likes me? I don't understand at all. I mean, out of me, Riku and Kuu, I think I have the least to offer in terms of good boyfriend material."

Atsuko sat there and silently urged her friend to continue.

"I mean, Riku's good looking and he's tall... Kuu's really popular. They're both really nice. I'm just... short-tempered and... mean, apparently." Kai shrugged. He didn't think he was that good of a catch, once people got to know him better. "I'm not particularly good-looking as a boy my nose is kinda big-"

"Stop." Atsuko commanded. Kai immediately shut up. "If you were a boy, I would be dating you RIGHT AWAY. For real."

"Honestly?" The crooked, shy smile on Kai's face was unbelievably charming.

"Honest." Atsuko smiled at Kai. "And you might not understand why people like you, but people just like you. I mean, I could be close to any of the people I work with, but the closest person to me is you."

"Why, though?"

Atsuko shrugged. "It could be anything. A person just likes how the other person makes them feel and some times, there really is no explanation for it. Apparently, you make the Diva feel something special. Look at her."  
They all looked at the normally cold Diva, sitting on the couch and seeming to finally enjoy herself. Kuu was telling a joke or something and the songstress was laughing as Kuu reached the punchline. Kai found a smile coming unbidden to his lips, feeling happy when he noticed Ray was finally starting to relax and enjoy herself. The fact that she was playing nice with his closest friends was good too.

"Can I ask you a question?" Atsuko had seen that smile on Kai's face and felt a little pang of jealousy. Kai seemed to have a secret power to make the girls close to him feel absolutely jealous when he bestowed his attention on someone other than them.

"Shoot."

"How do you feel about Ray now?" Atsuko's question furrowed Kai's brows in a frown. "I mean, you were so angry at her, and you have every right to be angry... but I felt like you were really, really upset about this."

"She did everything because of me." Kai grumbled. "Of course I was upset. I didn't understand why and I... I was hurt that she would do something like that."

"You know, now that she's apologized and Kuu and Riku seem to have let bygones be bygones, why don't you go talk to her?" Atsuko suggested. Kai immediately shook his head.

"No no no. I don't wanna do that."

"Then we can just tell her to leave-"

"No, I don't want that either!" Kai blurted out, then flushed immediately. Where had that come from?  
"You don't want that?" Atsuko raised an eyebrow at Kai, stamping down on the jealousy she felt. Ray would ALWAYS rub Atsuko the wrong way when it came to Kai. The jealousy and the rivalry had been there from the very beginning and it would be hard for either Atsuko or Ray to let go of it completely.

"I don't know. I don't know anymore." Kai threw up his hands, frustrated. As they conferred quietly, Kai didn't notice that Ray's eyes had found him on the stairs and were locked on him as he continued to speak to Atsuko in an agitated fashion.

"Hey, you alright?" Tomochin hovered around her like a mother hen.

"I'm fine." Ray tore her eyes away from Kai as the duo sitting on the stairs came down to join the party again.

"Where'd you two go?" Mariko waggled her eyebrows at Kai and Atsuko suggestively.

"We went to talk a bit, that's all." Kai's eyes darted to Ray, then away again nervously. Ray bit her tongue, trying to stop herself from jealously inquiring on what they had been talking about.

"Guys!" Tomomi burst on to the scene, saving Kai from any further questions Mariko might ask. "I talked to the director of Three Sisters, and we think Persona should do another appearance on the show!"

"That would be awesome!" Yuko high-fived Kasai. "And this time, my character and Riku's should have lots of unrestrained hot, wet and loud s-"

"STOP THAT TRAIN OF THOUGHT IF YOU WANT TO LIVE." Riku's eyebrow twitched. He clamped a hand over his eye, hoping that the twitch didn't become permanent. If it did, he would KILL OSHIMA YUKO.

"Lets not talk business." Kuu slung an arm around Atsuko and Kasai. "Lets go have fun! Why don't we go to the nearby park and swing on the swings?"

"What are we, five?" Mariko scoffed.

"You just don't want to go cuz you're fat and you won't be able to swing as high as a normal person." Kuu retorted. That got Mariko going and soon enough, everybody decided they needed to take it to the park.

"Why do they keep going to places where it's hard for us to keep track of them?" Sae complained to Sayaka as they followed after the three.

"Well, it'll all be over soon if things go according to plan." Sayaka smiled grimly.

* * *

endnote: DUNDUNDUN! And Sayaka and Sae reveal their true colours! OH NOESSSSS!


	35. Chapter 35

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 35

author's note: Second last chapter, I'm thinking. Boo hoo. Winding this down... it's been a DAMN LONG RIDE. But I hope it was all enjoyable. Pop in and tell me your favourite parts of this series. I know I could've written better and everything feels rushed, but writing endlessly and expanding on things is difficult and I'm lazy. Cheers to you all and hope you enjoy this!

* * *

The boys were in their dressing rooms, their ties untied, collars unbuttoned. Everybody was rushing around, getting ready for the show, but they were taking some time to just sit there and let everything sink in.

After tonight, everything would end. Persona, it was decided, would be taking a break from the public eye, for an undetermined amount of time, until the very real threat to their lives was resolved. Since there was so much extra security around, the boys were considered pretty safe within the complex and they each had several temporary bodyguards following them at all times. Sae and Sayaka had had to run off to organize other security details so it was just a bunch of strangers watching the boys now so they were not allowed within the inner sanctum of Persona. Everybody in on Persona's secret knew that one little misstep, and their facade would be exposed in front of these strangers. This all just added more stress to an already stressful situation.

"Are you boys ready?" Saeko and Marilyn stood there, looking at the trio. Marilyn had come back at night after everyone had left the party, apologizing for freaking out. It was kind of nice to see Saeko just wrap her arms around the secretary and hold her tightly, as if afraid the other woman would run again. Despite the very psychologically-damaging displays of affection the boys had witnessed, seeing Saeko and Marilyn hugging had been one they actually didn't mind seeing again. Even now, Saeko, who normally never touched Marilyn in public (the boys were not considered 'the public') had placed her hand on the small of Marilyn's back briefly, before letting it drop.

"As ready as we will be." Riku smiled at their shachou. He looked slightly troubled, though. "But... umm... would it be possible for me to go and see someone before the performance? I promise I'll be back in time to prep for the concert!"

"Who are you meeting?" Saeko raised an eyebrow at Riku. The boy bit his lower lip and lowered his head, unsure of how to broach the subject, but a nudge from Marilyn softened Saeko a bit.

"Katsuyuki-san is in a meeting with the producers of Music 10 to finalize some things with them, since he is in charge of the new talents under the Sunny Music label." Saeko grumbled. Really, Marilyn just made her a big softie when she was around! "You'll have to find him yourself, but I know he's somewhere on the fourth floor, in one of the conference rooms."

"Thanks!" Riku was out the door pretty damn quickly. Kai's hand shot up in the air for attention, waving frantically like an over-eager student.

Saeko let out a weary sigh. Give them an inch, they'll take a mile.

"What do YOU want?" Saeko cut Kai with a glare.

"Same thing!" Kai chirped.

"You want to see Katsuyuki-san?" Saeko asked sarcastically.

"Ye-no! I wanna... just... see people!" Kai finished lamely. "Lots of people!"

"Just go." Saeko growled. Kai was off in a flash after blurting out a quick thanks. The only boy left was Kuu. "And I suppose you want to see someone too. Is it Shinoda?"

"Why do people keep putting me and her together?" Kuu snapped back, surprising the management with his anger. "It's like after Okinawa, EVERYONE and their MOTHER thinks we're dating or something and people write excrutiatingly painful fanfics about us that are poorly written, grammatically incorrect with ill-conceived, predictable, boring stories and they are TOTALLY ripping off Kasai's idea of us as a couple and they're not even using our CHARACTER names from the Three Sisters but are using our real names-"

"Kuu, Kuu, KUU!" Marilyn shouted Kuu's name until he calmed down. The lolita-in-disguise was breathing heavily, completely furious, it seemed, more at the bad fanfics problem than the coupling-him-up-with-Mariko problem. "Calm down, honey. I told you not to go on the internet and read those fanfics anymore."

"They're like a car crash. You just can't look away. Okay... I'm calm... Deep breaths." Kuu wheezed. "I just want to snack. I'm nervous-hungry."

"Go. But be back in time for the start." Saeko threw up her hands in defeat. They were going to be the death of her! Kuu was out the door in a hurry, leaving Saeko and Marilyn alone.

"Just the two of us." Saeko gave Marilyn a tired smile. Normally, her libido would have gotten the better of her and she would've pushed Marilyn down and had her way with her, but they had too much to do right now.

"After?" Marilyn knew exactly what Saeko was thinking.

"Right." Saeko sighed and they exited the room, the very picture of professionalism. "Lets double-check everything and make sure things are going to plan."

* * *

Riku had managed to catch Katsuyuki-san right after his meeting and convince his new bodyguards to wait outside as he talked to the director in the vacated meeting room. Katsuyuki-san looked quite uncomfortable, but seemed resigned to the fact that this talk had to happen.

"So... how've you been?" The young director started out, giving Riku a tentative smile.

"Alright." Riku shrugged, a bit uncomfortable in his new outfit. The waistcoat that was part of their new outfits was slightly uncomfortable, but Saeko had forbidden them to take it off as it was integral to their whole look. It was already hot enough with the trenchcoat their shachou insisted on.

"I just want to take this last opportunity to apologize again." Riku bowed low. "If I made you feel like I was playing with your feelings, or doing it to make fun of you, I really didn't-"

"Stop, Riku, stop." Katsuyuki-san took Riku by the shoulders and made the young man stand up straight. "You don't have to apologize. It's fine."

"It's not fine, I did mislead you." Riku said honestly.

"You did." Katsuyuki nodded ruefully. "But you also showed me what I had been missing the entire time."

Katsuyuki put both hands on Riku's shoulders. "I did a bit of soul searching and I think I understand why I always felt disconnected. It sounds corny, but nothing made me feel more myself than being with Riku."

"Katsuyuki-san..."

"Ryouga." Ryouga corrected. "You made me realize that... it's still hard for me to say out loud-that I really like men."

Riku was a little bit stunned by the revelation. The young idol didn't know why, when he looked at it rationally. Ryouga was in love with Riku. Riku was a man. But... Riku was Asahi.

"But I'm a girl." Riku blurted out.

"I know." A brief flash of pain crossed Ryouga's face. "I know that. And knowing that... I don't feel the same way I did when I thought Riku was a guy. I want Riku the guy. I'm sorry... I know Asahi and Riku are the same person, but I'll always like Riku more."

Ryouga had done some serious internal debating. Riku and him were great together, really. Riku understood him and Ryouga was crazy about Riku. But when Riku was revealed to be a girl, it had changed everything. The Riku that Ryouga knew was completely seperate from the real person now... Ryouga had wanted to, absolutely wanted to fall for Asahi. Same face, same personality... it wasn't that difficult, right? But it had been. Just imagining Riku as a woman didn't fly. The Riku that Ryouga loved was a man.

"So..." Riku shifted uncomfortably. "What now?"

"I still like Asahi. Even though we had our misunderstanding. I'm really sorry for avoiding you after you told me your secret, but I had to get my head together." Ryouga said gently. Asahi as Riku had been absolutely kind, now that he thought about it. Riku didn't ask for more from Ryouga, didn't ask for special treatment in the industry or use him for his money. Riku had enjoyed hanging out with Ryouga and had truly been a friend.

"I really missed you." Ryouga held out a hand to Riku. "I would really like it if we could still be friends."

Riku smiled and took Ryouga's hand in his own. "I'd like that a lot, too."

"Well, now that we got that cleared up... can you tell me why you're dressed up like a guy in the first place?" Ryouga crossed his arms, all business. He WAS the director of Sunny Music and what the HELL was Saeko trying to pull?

"Ah ha ha. Well," Riku was trying to slowly retreat. "You know... it's just how it is. But this'll be the last time-"

"Last time?" Katsuyuki-san looked at Riku in alarm. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing forget about what I said I'm just being crazy I gotta go come watch us later bye!" Riku let out a diarrhea of words, then fled the scene before he could continue revealing ALL their plans.

* * *

"Kai." Hiro looked pointedly uncomfortable as the young man walked up to him. The bodyguard had seen him coming and was slightly surprised the young man stopped in front of him. This WAS Ray's door and despite the kiss on tv, he knew that Kai and Ray still weren't cool.

"Hiro." Kai nodded at the much taller man. "Uh. Well... how are you doing?"

"Alright." Hiro shifted from foot to foot, then sighed, deciding to extend the olive branch. "Listen, man, I'm sorry bout being angry at you before, I know that it wasn't my place-"

"No, it's totally your place." Kai interrupted Hiro quickly. "You don't have to apologize, I was really rude before, too, and I really should apologize for that. You were just doing your job, right? Protecting Ray."

"Yeah. Yeah, I was." Hiro nodded eagerly, then sighed. "But maybe you were right. About Ray being the way she is."

"Yeah, but the Diva would have had your ass out on the streets if that were the case." Kai chuckled. Kai was the only one Ray treated differently and would allow to rebuke her like that.

"You wanna go on in?" Hiro took a look at his watch. "They're gonna start calling the performers on soon to get ready."

"Alright. So..." Kai held out a fist. "We're cool?"

Hiro tapped his huge fist against Kai's. "We cool."

"Alright." Kai grinned up at the man. Hiro stepped aside, knocking on the door politely.

"Ma'am, someone here to see you."

"Who is it?" Ray called out. Hiro was about to answer, but Kai placed a hand on Hiro's arm, stilling the large man's answer and decided to just let himself in. Kai stood at the door, looking at Ray in amusement. The songstress was frozen in place, looking as if she was heading to the door herself to check on her guest.

"Surprise." Kai felt his heart flutter in his chest when Ray smiled at him. "Bad time?"

"No! No, come in!" Ray had to hold herself back from trying to jump onto Kai. He was here! To come see her! But with the door closed now, a sudden heavy awkwardness fell on both of them and Ray blushed deeply at the way Kai kept glancing at her and glancing away. To calm herself down, Ray turned away from Kai to sit back in the chair in front of the vanity in the room, concentrating on her own face to still her pounding heart.

"Did you come because Sarukawa-shachou came to see you?" This suddenly occurred to Ray. Maybe Kai didn't come because he wanted to see her, maybe her manager had said something to the blonde and Kai was unhappy and thought it was Ray...

"Eh?" Kai blinked, confused.

"Because of you three, I was knocked down from my top spot." Ray smiled softly at her reflection. It hadn't really affected her, being number two now. Of course, she wanted to stay at number one, but it was bound to happen. The shelf life of idols wasn't long, but Ray had stayed on for a pretty long time and had established herself as a force to be reckoned with. The Diva would just have to work again to get back to to the top.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Kai muttered, not knowing what else to say.

"You're not really sorry." Ray said teasingly.

The blonde smiled at the reflection of Ray in the mirror. "Fine. Not that sorry. I have mixed feelings about competing against one of the artists that I like a lot."

Ray raised an eyebrow at Kai, who blushed, realizing that what he had said sounded very much like he was flirting with Ray.

"I didn't mean it that way." Kai tried to correct himself hurriedly, hurting Ray a little bit. What DID the blonde mean, then?

"It's like, you're one of my favourite artists, even before we met." Kai blundered on, trying to explain what he had said. "I admire you a lot, like an idol, you know?"

"It took a lot of hard work to get to where I am." Ray nodded, deciding to let Kai's comment pass. "Before, if someone was beating me in popularity polls or on the charts, I would be so angry and I wouldn't know how to be happy for them. But for you... I honestly am happy for you. And I remember how hard I worked before and how it probably isn't that different for everyone else. We're all trying our best. I forgot about that. I forgot why I was doing this, I forgot my dream."

"What was your dream?" Kai asked. When Ray blushed at the question, Kai couldn't help but find it incredibly charming.

"It's naive of me, when you think about how long I've been in the industry." Ray felt a little bit embarassed, thinking back to why she had wanted to be an idol so badly. But after the bit of self-reflecting she did, she found that what she felt before was still true now. "I just wanted to make people happy. And I wanted my grandfather to be proud of me."

"I don't think it's naive. I want to make people happy, too."

"You might be the only one." Ray said wryly. "Especially for someone like me, just because I might have seen it all. Just... I still want to make people happy."

"Well," Kai took a few steps closer to Ray's chair. "I've never met your grandfather, but from what you've told me of him, he would be proud that you still feel that way. About making people happy."

There was a knock at the door and Hiro's voice came through.

"Ten minutes for everyone."

"Thanks, Hiro." Kai turned his head to call towards the door. When he turned back, Ray was facing him, still sitting in her chair. Ray looked stunning, really. The Diva's hair had been gathered up in an up-do, she was decked in a long, white silk dress accentuated with light pinks; the songstress looked like a beautiful flower.

"I'm sure your performance tonight would be unforgettable." The Diva smiled, having heard the rumours from the stagehands running around. Ray hadn't been around for Persona's rehearsals, but apparently it would be a large, impressive number with a new song. "Thanks for coming to see me before this important performance."

Before Kai knew it, his feet were moving him forward, not being able to control what he was doing but knowing this was what he wanted to do. He realized that Ray was in the perfect position for what he wanted to do next as he placed one hand behind Ray's head, gently cradling it, and pressed his lips against her cheek in a sweet kiss that sent shivers down both their backs.

It was unbelievably quick but Ray's heart wanted to explode from her chest. She had always initiated affection between them. ALWAYS. Kai had always shied away from her or passively accepted Ray's affections.

Where his lips had touched, Ray could feel something coursing from there straight to her heart and she was too stunned to even smile though joy was bubbling through her body.

"Kai!" Ray called out desperately as the blonde tried to beat a hasty retreat. Why did he kiss her? She desperately wanted to know. Ray desperately wanted the small person who had stolen her heart to stay and explain to her and very very much wanted to continue kissing Kai.

"It's because this is the last time." Kai drank in the sight of the Diva. Next time, if they ever met, if Kai-no, Nami got the chance... If Ray passed by Nami on the street, would the celebrity recognize her? The blonde grinned at Ray, wanting to show Ray a smiling face if this was going to be the last time.

"Take care, Ray." With that, Kai was out the door, ignoring Ray calling his name-resisting the urge to turn back-and ran back to his dressing room.

* * *

"I don't think you belong here."

Kuu was startled from stuffing his face. His new bodyguards were a little ways off, not needing to be right at Kuu's elbow while he was at the food-laden table. Everybody here had a pass too, that cleared them through the tight security they had at this venue.

Everybody including Kuroda.

"Kuro-nyan!" Kuu gasped.

"Stop calling me that." Kuroda growled, not even meeting Kuu's eye. "Back to the topic at hand: I think you shouldn't perform and you should leave while you can. You were never really involved in this, but if you stick with those two, you will be."

"I'm not going to run." Kuu glanced around. His bodyguards were looking suspiciously over at him, so he decided to move along and pretend like he wasn't talking to Kuroda. "I'm going to be on Music 10 and stand there with my friends. I'm an earth angel. I can't let down my fans and the people that like us."

"Is it worth your life?" Kuroda bit out harshly.

"All we have in this world is the little bits of happiness that are afforded to us." Kuu smiled at the pastries in front of him. "Life isn't all sunshine and roses, I know. But to be able to give someone a little bit of happiness while they're going through that painful path of life, don't you think that's important? It's a worthwhile thing to do. And I've found that I really can make people happy with my music. Isn't that a good thing to do? I feel like making people happy is worth dying for."

Kuroda fell silent, picking at a platter of fruit. Finally, he turned away from Kuu without a word and left the table, shaking his head.

* * *

Hattai was sitting beside Sashihara, who had managed to come back for this concert; both were seated together in the VIP section of the concert hall at the front row, with Hattai's bodyguards. There were also a lot of Persona fans in that section, too, who had won a radio contest for a up-close-and-personal Persona prize pack that Oshima Mai had given away on her radio show. There was a HUGE number of Persona fans in the building that outnumbered all the other artists' fans, including Ray's, some guessed. Music 10 had opened up the concert hall even more as a last minute attempt to accommodate those that were still clambering for tickets and all THOSE tickets had been sold out, too.

The energy from the crowd was amazing and it was a miracle that this huge event was pulled off in such a short time. All the artists from the one on the tenth spot to the third had performed and now Ray was up. Kai wished that he could actually be out there to see the songstress sing one last time. He would never get an opportunity-

"Pay attention!" Saeko's whip shook Kai out of his stupor and he yelped loudly at the stinging pain that blossomed on his ass.

"I'm listening, I'm listening! I'm sorry!" Kai blurted out, rubbing the sore area.

"Good, come on. Are we ready for this?" The boys were in a huddle with their management and their band which consisted of Paul, Candy and one more guy who was supposedly amazing on the guitar.

"Gordon, right?" Saeko eyed the tall foreigner who was also from New Zealand. He was a friend of Paul's and seemed a little bit unreliable, but he was a true professional.

"Right-o." Gordon grinned.

"Ready?"

"_Good to go, boss!_" Gordon saluted.

"Paul and Candy, you okay?" Marilyn asked the other two. Music 10 had wanted to give the boys their own musicians, but Persona had insisted on people they trusted to back them up.

"Guys, the strings are good!" Hideki raced up, puffing. Nao arrived at a more moderate pace.

"Brass is a go." Nao gave them all a thumbs-up as Kuu pounced on the woman and clung to her.

"Alright, we're ready. Anybody have anything to say?" They all joined the circle again. Sae and Sayaka were hanging in the outskirts but Riku pulled them in to join the huddle. Cameras were everywhere but they ignored them all, their hearts pounding. Ray was nearing the end of the song, the emcees would say a few words then the boys would be out with their number one hit, 'Christmas Present'.

"It was great working with all of you." Sayaka smiled and nodded, deciding to start people off since the performers and the people involved in the mechanics of this performance seemed so nervous they didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, ditto." Sae nodded. "Best time ever."

The boys grinned and nodded at the bodyguards.

"You make it seem like we're never gonna see them any more!" Paul laughed. At the guilty looks on the boys' face, Candy narrowed her eyes at them, Nao catching on quite quickly, too.

"What are you not us?" Nao looked at Kuu accusingly.

"Well..." Kuu's eyes darted over to Saeko, looking at his manager pleadingly. The boys wanted to tell their recording crew...

"Fine." Saeko rolled her eyes. "Tell them."

"We're taking a break after this. We have... something to do." Kuu revealed.

"WHAT?" The cry was echoed by everyone in the circle not in the know.

"What? What are you guys gonna be doing that's better than this?" Hideki gaped at them. They were the BEST musicians he'd worked with! "Are you guys moving on to acting? Cuz seriously, even though the three of you acted well in Three Sisters it wasn't THAT good-"

"We're not moving to acting." Kai cut Hideki off before he could finish his unknowing insult.

"Then what?" Paul asked. "Hey. Wait. Is this just a way to get rid of us and get new musicians?"

"No!" Riku quickly cut off that line of thought. "There's no-one else we'd rather work with! It's just... we've got some important things we need to do."

"Like finish school!" Marilyn supplied.

"Yeah." Kai grimaced. "Like school."

"Will we see you guys again?" An unknown voice shocked everyone in the group. It was soft and slightly accented, not at all unpleasant to the ear.

"Candy?" Sae gaped at the quiet woman.

"Oh my! You can talk!" Marilyn added. The woman scowled at them all.

"I can talk, I'm just not very confident in my Japanese." Candy was not liking all the eyes on her. This was why she didn't speak!

"_Woah. you can talk! All this time I thought you were mute!_" Gordon was also gaping at Candy, what he was saying clear to the others even though he was speaking in rapid English.

"Enough." Candy growled. "Just answer my question."

"Yeah." Kai smiled weakly. "We hope, some time in the future. But... we don't know where we'll be-"

"We might send the boys out of the country, possibly to Las Vegas. They're leaving immediately after this." Marilyn cut in again. What the hell was up with Marilyn and Saeko and Las Vegas?

"Oh." A heaviness weighed down on the group as they all realized that this might be the last time they got together like this.

"But hey, lets not concentrate on that, guys. We had fun, right?" Riku looked around the group and they all nodded, even the recently added Gordon. They did have fun. It had been a really great ride and they were ending on a high note. But tears were apparent in some of the group's eyes.

"Come on, smiles, everyone!" Kuu bared his teeth in a grin, trying to get everyone to follow suit. Nao blinked back tears and tried to follow Kuu's lead, but a small sob broke past her lips. Kuu hugged her close.

"We have a job to do, everyone." Saeko said gruffly, seemingly trying to hold back her own emotions.

"Come on!" Riku tried again, jumping a little bit, trying to energize the group again. "Lets do the best we can! We'll definitely see each other again and keep making music! This is just temporary!"

"Yeah." Paul slowly started to smile. "Yeah, this isn't an end. Just a 'to be continued', right?"

"Right!" The boys chirped.

"Alright. Are we not MEN AMONGST MEN?" Kai shouted.

"OSU!" The group shouted, despite smirks from Nao and Candy who didn't consider themselves part of the men-amongst-men category.

"Are we not the most ikemen of the ikemen?" Kuu added in.

"OSU!" There were a few good-natured chuckles thrown in here, too.

"PERSONA, SAIKYOU!" Riku hollered.

"OSU!" Everyone replied.

A stagehand ran up to them frantically. "Persona, on in ten!"

The boys parted and went to the side, waiting for their cue to come on the stage. And as the emcees finished their speel and introduced them, Persona walked out into the blinding lights, to the roar of a sold-out concert hall. They waved out to the people they could see, looking down to spot Hattai and Sashihara, waving at them excitedly.

"I'm Kuu!"

"Kai!"

"And I'm Riku!"

"We are Persona!" The three waved to the crowd. The emcees of Music 10, a woman named Sato Yukari and another beautiful woman named Umeda Ayaka clapped politely.

"You boys really have made a name for yourself!" Yukari was blushing furiously as she looked at Riku. He was just so handsome! "Saving Japan from an economic crisis and getting a song up to number one!"

"All in a day's work." Kuu said jokingly, the audience laughing along and the girls screaming for Kuu. Kai was busy trying to discreetly glance over to the far side of the stage where the previous artists that had performed were sitting in a designated area. He almost missed his cue to talk as his eyes caught Ray's.

"We do what we can." Kai added lamely and shrugged. For some reason, his distracted attitude seemed to drive the girls in the audience wild. There was a round couch set up for them to do the interview portion of the show and Yukari waved them to the couch to take a seat. A huge projector hanging far above them projected the interview so everyone could get a good look, even those in the back.

"How do you boys feel, having finally gotten to the top after a very tough climb?" Ayaka asked politely. "I remembered when the scandal hit, you boys completely disappeared from sight. Wasn't it just a month or so ago when your first single, 'Three Seconds' was on Music 10?"

"It was." The scandal was a sobering thought and Riku really wanted to say something in regards to that. "When those photos came out in that gossip magazine, it caused a lot of tension in our group."

"We fought a lot." Kai rubbed the back of his neck. "It was scary, seeing our popularity drop like that. I seriously considered quitting cuz it was getting hard."

"But we pulled through, right?" Kuu spoke up quickly. "We decided that we were all in this together and with our management, we decided to stick it out. We lost a lot of our fans, though, since we disappointed them with our scandal."

"Wasn't your scandal, it was mostly my fault-"

"No, it's not all your fault-we're in this together, remember?" Kai interrupted Riku's self-deprecation, remembering his own role in this. "It was something we all had to deal with; we won't let you deal with something like that alone."

The comraderie between the three made the audience cheer.

"Thankfully, a certain fan of yours was the princess of Wataar." Yukari pointed out, earning a few chuckles from the boys.

"Princess or no princess, a fan is a fan." Riku said firmly. "She supported us even though we were at a low point. We couldn't let our fan down."

"Even at the risk of our career." Kai nodded. "Because we were at such a low point, getting jobs was hard for us and to keep our promise to our fan, we had to refuse a TV job, which would have completely ruined us."

"You were still willing to do it, that's incredible." Ayaka nodded, impressed with these boys. "Did you know your fan was the princess of Wataar when you met her?"

"No idea. You don't really expect a delivery person on the street to be a princess." Kuu shook his head. "We were completely shocked when her majesty Wataar the Seventh showed up at the door looking for her daughter."

"Wow, royalty right at your agency!" Yukari was completely enthralled in the story. These boys were amazing!

"Wataar the Seventh is quite a fan of pop idol groups herself, from what rumours say." Ayaka commented.

"Yeah!" Kuu grinned. "She loves Animal Crush!"

"I was just talking to Yukari about this too," Ayaka placed a finger to her chin in a thoughtful gesture. "You boys sort of remind me of Animal Crush, like what they would've been if they hadn't split up."

"They were a great group." Yukari nodded, with the boys agreeing. "But you boys seemed to have surpassed them, coming in at number one and beating out the charismatic Diva, who had dominated the charts for months!"

"We try." Riku and Kuu grinned and waved over to Ray sitting off to the side who gave them a smile that everybody else saw as just a smile, but the boys saw as a promise of nothing but pain for them afterwards. She might not mind Persona at the top, but if Riku and Kuu were going to rub it in...

"Guys." Kai felt a little flare of annoyance, sensing Ray's indignation even though he was far away from the songstress.

"Kaiiii." They grinned at him, mischeivousness shining in their eyes. Before he could stop them, Kuu and Riku turned to the emcees.

"Kai's very protective of Ray." Riku grinned. "He talks about Ray all the time."

"BIG time protective. Talks about her A LOT." Kuu agreed. Kai was blushing furiously and hiding it behind a pretty ferocious scowl while Ray looked on with interest, a small smile on her face as the audience hooted and cat-called.

"Now, now, RIKU." Kai ground out through a fake grin. "You know how your own GIRLFRIEND doesn't like it when you talk about other girls."

"I can do whatever I want. She's not the boss of me." Riku narrowed his eyes at Kai. Kuu was laughing it up until Kai pinned Kuu with a look.

"And don't get me started on your rumours with a certain actress-slash-model."

"Don't start something you can't finish." Kuu bristled, all three suddenly hostile, the feeling of comraderie completely gone.

"Welllll..." Ayaka laughed. "On that note, lets move on to your performance! Anything else to say to the fans?"

"Yeah." Riku finally managed a smile, self-consciously reaching up to touch his eyebrow to make sure it wasn't twitching from the mention of his 'girlfriend'. "Thank you. For everything."

Kuu waved to the crowd. "For liking our music and for supporting us all this time!"

"For believing in us and giving us a second chance!" Kai grinned as the crowds roared again.

"For putting us at the top of the charts." Riku said seriously. "I'd also personally like to thank some of my new fans out there that I made during my scandal. Maybe they liked me because they thought I was gay and they had someone to relate to, but even after the announcement from my... girlfriend... I want them to know I still completely appreciate them and I understand how hard it is to be judged by something beyond your control. Thank you. You guys gave me strength to get through the tough times. I LOVE MY GAY FANS!"

Everyone screamed excitedly but their cheering was dwarfed by loud shouting from a group off to the side of the stage. Riku grinned and waved in that direction, hoping that it was some of those nice gay boys he had met the same day Persona had met Hattai.

"I'd like to thank Wataar!" Kuu cheered and threw his hands up in the air, grinning when he could hear the Wataarian princess screaming about how she loved Persona. "And our fanclub who followed us every step of the way, especially the otakus!"

Sashihara was pretty loud too, heard even above the other fans in the fanclub.

"To our crew who's stuck with us through long nights of recording." Kai added. "Oh, and our bodyguards who put up with us running off on them all the time."

"To our management at Kamonohashi Agency, who has stuck by us even though we're incorrigible and ungrateful." Riku directed his grin off stage. He could make out Marilyn dabbing at her eyes sentimentally, but Saeko was motioning for him to get back on task and look at the audience.

"To our parents!" Kuu waved at the cameras, which prompted all the members of Persona to wave at random cameras filming them, childishly hoping that their parents could see them and were proud of them.

"Our brothers and our LITTLE SISTERS..." Kai winked at the camera. Somewhere out there, the blonde knew two little girls were probably screaming in excitement.

"..no matter how annoying the brother gets." Riku gave the camera a pointed look. That one was for her own little brother.

"To our loved ones far away who supported us and believed in us." Kuu fervently wished that Lisa could see him. Kuu... no, Hinata, was doing fine. Her sessions with Moeno had been put on hold periodically because of work and the Yakuza problem, but they had helped when she had them. And of course, being a part of Persona and supported by such stalwart friends had helped immensely.

"This is 'Christmas Present', DEDICATED TO OUR FANS!" Persona finished. The roar of approval from the crowds was the signal for Persona to move on to the performance area, where Candy was at her drums and Paul and Gordon were ready on their bass and guitar, respectively. The boys stood in front of their three mics and grinned at each other.

This was where they belonged.

They sung with all their might, pouring out their hearts to their fans.

Hattai watched, tears streaming down her face as she tried to do the wota moves Sashihara was doing beside her, tears also streaming down the wota's face. Far away, in a living room, Erena and Miho were jumping around and positively screaming with joy. Their father and mother was watching the show with interest, too, a fierce pride burning in their chests.

Asahi's family was sitting around the television in their own living room, laughing it up as Kouhei complained loudly about the lies his sister tells and insisting that he wasn't annoying.

Hinata's parents were, unbeknownst to the girl, in the audience. Far enough away that the performers couldn't see them but close enough for the seats to be considered 'good seats'. It was their daughter performing and there was no way in hell they were going to miss an event as big as this!

"Isn't she great?" Mr. Otawa leaned over his wife, shouting above the music to the guest he and his wife had brought along. Lisa, who had taken a couple of emergency days off, grinned and nodded. There was no way in hell any of them were going to miss this.

The fans swayed to the music, completely enchanted with the song as Persona sang for them, pockets of people squealing and screaming when Persona turned their eyes to their section. They sung with everything they had, their song ending in a deafening roar of approval from the concert hall, people who weren't even their fans, caught up in the feeling of the song.

"THANK YOU!" The three waved to the crazed audience. "THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!"

Riku raised his hand for silence and after a couple of minutes, finally, the crowds fell silent.

"This is one of the happiest days in our lives!" Riku's exclamation sent everyone screaming again, and again, they had to wait several minutes for Riku to get a word in edgewise. "Unfortunately, we might not be able to see you all like this again, for some time."

A loud murmur rose from the crowd. What? What was Riku talking about?

"We've decided... we don't want to, but..." Kai tried to say something, but fell silent, so upset that he was unable to speak. The reality of what was happening was hitting him hard. Kuu and Riku put a comforting hand on Kai's shoulder and Kuu decided to continue for Kai.

"We've gotten an opportunity to further our studies abroad, so for our best interest, our management has decided this is the direction we should take." The cries of disappointment from Kuu's announcement coupled with the fact that the boys could see some of their fans actually starting to cry in the audience hurt them deeply.

"We're not going away forever." Riku tried to calm the audience down. "We're just taking a break."

"We'll be back before you know it." Kai reassured hoarsely, the emotions in his voice doing nothing to calm the fans down. Ray herself, was having a hard time staying seated when she could obviously see that Kai was upset.

"We've only been around for a short time, we definitely won't go too far." Riku laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "You'll see us again in a flash."

"In a blink of an eye." Kai joined in, dropping his own little idiom.

"In '3 Seconds'." Kuu grinned and raised an eyebrow at Riku.

"Sanbyou mitsumeru dake de..." Riku crooned out the first line, acapella. The boys grinned as the audience screamed in excitement, recognizing the song.

"Otoshite miseyou ka," Kai sung the next line.

Kuu picked up on the third line. "Omae no ai nante..."

"Ore no omoi doori sa!" The three harmonized together, the band immediately launching into Persona's debut single. The crowd went wild again, everybody hooting and hollering as they sang to their fans, to the people in the audience, to the people watching at home. The screams were even louder this time as they watched the three boys sing out; their last time on the stage. Everyone watched Persona shining on stage, grinning out to their fans. Singing with all their hearts, their eyes bright and happy.

The song was over too soon and it seemed far, far too soon for the boys to wave one last good-bye to their audience, before hurrying off stage.

"ENCORE!" Sashihara shouted. She was soon joined by Hattai and everyone else in their box, followed quickly by the rest of the concert hall.

"ENCORE!" The screams were frenzied. "ENCORE!"

There was a bit of cheering as someone came back on stage... but the audience let out a disappointed groan as they noticed it was just a couple of people, bringing chairs out. What was happening? Little more than a dozen people came out, carrying string and brass instruments and taking a seat on the chairs they brought out. Persona's band seemed to be tuning their musical instruments, pointedly ignoring the crowd.

Something was going to happen...

The lights dimmed and smoke from a smoke machine spread across the stage, prompting the cheering to restart.

"PERSONA! PERSONA!" The crowd chanted and the boys, not one to disappoint their fans, answered as the sounds of a piano pierced through the screaming and a white grand piano slowly rose from the stage with Kuu at the keys, in the center of a spotlight.

"KUU!" The screams grew louder as they all recognized Kuu's distinctive hairstyle. He continued playing out a staccato rhythym from the lower notes, the deep, musical notes were slightly hypnotic. Candy started off on the snare drum, playing a drum cadence that was slightly militaristic, matching Kuu's tempo on the piano. Paul joined on the bass a few seconds later, following the tempo. Gordon started plucking out a simple melody and another spotlight turned on, illuminating Kai who had sneaked back on the stage when everybody's attention was elsewhere.

The screaming drowned out whatever Kai was singing, but when the crowds quieted down, they noticed he was humming an incredibly catchy tune that melded seamlessly with the sounds on stage, his alto voice matching and joining the music in an irresistible harmony. A few seconds later, though, the dark stage lit up, Riku walking out on stage like a man with a purpose. As he slowly approached the centre of the stage amidst the screaming audience, barely noticeable, the string instruments gradually rising in volume, the excitement of the crowd rising along with the slow steady crescendo of all the musical instruments coming together.

Riku took a second to glance at the place directly in front of the stage. Marilyn and Saeko had moved there to see this final performance. And all three boys could see the joy and pride in Saeko's eyes. And a little way off from her, Riku could see Katsuyuki-san. The young director smiled up at Riku, giving him a barely perceivable nod of acknowledgement. And there was Jiro. Marilyn had pulled some strings and given the loyal paparazzo a press pass.

The blonde photographer grinned up at Riku and gave the young man on stage a thumbs-up just as the de-facto leader burst out into song, strong and clear, crooning out his words, the start of their masterpiece. Kuu and Kai both glanced at Riku, not looking at him too long, hoping they wouldn't choke on the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm them. But as Riku sang through his verse masterfully, Kuu and Kai concentrated on their audience, preparing themselves to join in on the chorus, feeling nothing but a sense of confidence.

They could do this. They had worked on this forever. And even though all three of them had never performed like this in front of an audience this huge, right now, they were true professionals.

They were idols.

* * *

"Alright, lets go!" Sayaka and Sae herded the boys away from their fans. Riku, Kuu and Kai had met up with the radio contest winners to shake hands, give them special 'Christmas Present' packages and take pictures. They had also stopped to say hi to Hattai and Rino, giving them the same special Persona package and exchanging words and tearful good-byes with their two most devoted fans.

"Thank you for everything." Kuu had been near hugging Hattai and Rino, Riku and Kai needed to physically pull the young man away from the two women.

"Kuuuuuuuuu..." Rino and Hattai sobbed, drawing out Kuu's name in a heart-wrenching wail.

"SASSHIIIIIIIIIII... HAAAAAATTAIIIIII..." Kuu answered. Riku and Kai just shook their heads, watching the scene sadly. They were a bit more reserved than Kuu, but no less sad.

"Come on, we gotta go." Saeko said gruffly. Saeko motioned to Kai and the blonde grabbed a hold of Kuu and started dragging the boy away, following Sae as Sayaka brought up the rear and the extra hired security stayed behind to keep the roomful of fans from following.

"Oh man." Riku shook his head as he followed the tall bodyguard. "This is it, guys."

"I'm really sad." The corners of Kuu's lips were pulled down into a moue of pure sadness, sounding just like a toddler. Kai rubbed Kuu's back wryly, letting out a sigh of his own.

"There, there, little baby. Little baby want to be cuddled?"

"Yeaaaah." Kuu turned weepy eyes on Kai.

"Don't touch me." Kai narrowed his eyes at his bandmate, but put an arm around Kuu grudgingly when Kuu looked even more depressed. "Come on. It's not the end. We'll be back before you know it. Soon as this mess clears up, right?"

They entered the elevator, Saeko and Marilyn discussing quietly on how they would market the various singles that Persona had recorded. Kai and Riku were trying to console Kuu, none of the boys noticing that their bodyguards were oddly silent.

"Second floor basement." Sayaka's voice was a little bit odd as they moved out to the parking lot, away from the elevator which was being called back up. "Sae and I will bring the car around."

Before anything could be said, the two had disappeared.

"Do they need two people to bring the car around?" Riku wondered aloud, noticing that it was just a little bit odd that their bodyguards, who usually liked to stick to them, had left them alone.

"They usually don't. But I asked them to." Kuroda appeared from behind a big pillar and headed towards them. Several men in dark suits surrounded the small group, two of the men moving to the elevator to block it.

"The snake-guy!" Riku and Kai held each other in fear as Kuu looked at Kuroda sadly. The Yakuza pointedly ignored Kuu's gaze.

"I've been chasing you two for a long time." Kuroda pulled out a gun from the inside of his suit, the dark metal of the gun glinting dully in the parking garage's poor lighting. "Give me that cellphone strap toy."

"I found it first! Get your own!" Riku blurted out, out of habit.

"Geez!" Saeko smacked Riku upside the head. "Give him whatever he wants!"

Riku grumbled but took out his cellphone, detaching the purupuru from it and holding it out. "Here."

Kuroda strode forward and snatched the purupuru away from a pouting Riku.

"Boys shouldn't be playing with dolls. They get in trouble when they do." Kuroda growled.

"I don't have to conform to your gender expectations!" Riku raised a fist in defiance, his little brush with gay-discrimination and the cross-dressing they did every day had made him despise what society deemed as the 'norm'.

"YEAH!" Kuu and Kai raised their fists in the air too.

"SHUT UP!" Kuroda barked out, brandishing his gun.

"Be quiet, boys!" Marilyn grabbed Kuu and Kai's collar, dragging them back.

"I don't know what you're doing or what my boys have to do with you, but you got what you want." Saeko narrowed her eyes at Kuroda. "So leave us alone."

Kuroda shook his head. "I don't think so. Your boys know too much. My boss wants them to disappear."

The Yakuza gave a slight tilt of his head and his men grabbed their victims, seperating the management from their boys.

"Shachou! Marilyn!" Kai called out, struggling against the iron-grip the yakuza punks had on him.

"RIKU!"

Riku almost got whiplash as he turned to watch Jiro running towards them. "JIRO?"

The blonde had been hiding out in the basement under a car, knowing that Persona was going to be heading here. He had wanted to talk to Riku a little bit more... and maybe follow Asahi to wherever she was going to go when she went into hiding. Jiro would give up everything, put his Pulitzer aspirations on the back-burner to follow Asahi and make sure she was safe. And now, standing in front of Asahi with his arms spread out, he found that he would give up more than his aspirations for Asahi.

"Jiro, no!" Riku had other plans though and pushed him out of the way, Riku's strength sending Jiru flying an impressive several feet away. With Jiro out of the way, Kuroda had a clear shot now and he took it. The gunshots sounded way louder than normal as it echoed throughout the basement complex, setting off the alarms of several cars. Blood splattered the floor, spread across Riku's white 'Christmas Present' outfit as he fell to the floor and ceased to move.

"Riku!" Kai reached out to Riku in horror and grimaced in pain as gunshots rang out again and felt the breath get knocked out of him. Falling to the ground, he closed his eyes, hoping that the pain would just go away...

"Kuro-nyan..." Kuu whispered. Kuroda's hand wavered just a little bit. Then his mouth tightened into a grim line and he let out another three rounds, each bullet finding it's way into Kuu's torso as blood exploded from Kuu's wounds. Wordlessly, Kuu also fell to the ground.

All of a sudden, the place was filled with people, all of them in combat armour and standard issue uniforms identifying them as Japan's Special Assault Team, all of them packing some serious weaponry.

"DROP YOUR WEAPON, NOW!" One of the only people not in the Special Assault Team's uniform was Sayaka, who had a standard issue automatic gun pointed at Kuroda's head. "NOW!"

Kuroda slowly put the gun down on the ground, his face an impassive mask. He let Sayaka man-handle him to the ground and saw that his men had also given up. Most of them were face-down, looking quite bewildered at the sudden police presence.

"You're goddamn police!" Kuroda growled out loudly at Sae as she came into view. The short-haired woman smirked.

"That's right." Sae's smirk had changed into a grin and Kuroda dearly wanted to wipe the smile off Sae's face.

"Officer Miyazawa, please take care of the suspect." Sayaka had cuffed and searched Kuroda and now hauled him to his feet. "I have to check on the boys."

"They're dead!" Kuroda snorted, looking very much like one of the Yakuzas you see in the movies. "At least I got them-"

"Shaddup!" Sae ordered, shaking Kuroda slightly.

"There's still a slight pulse from all three!" One SAT officer hollered. "Emergency units are on the way!"

"Riku!" Jiro was held back and away from the body of the tallest member of Persona. Tears were streaming down his face as he watched his childhood love lay there, dying. It took little less than ten minutes for the ambulance to get there and screech to a stop in front of the boys. The ambulance driver came out and opened the door, about to pull the stretcher out but Sayaka was already picking up the small Kai.

"Lets go, we don't have time to wait for another ambulance!" Sayaka jumped into the back of the ambulance, putting Kai on one of the beds while Sae grabbed Kuu and they both helped put Riku in. It was kind of hilarious as everyone tried to pile into the ambulance and the driver was trying to kick out Jiro who had a firm grip on the ambulance door.

"Every second you keep the ambulance is a second that's keeping Riku from the hospital!" Sae snapped at Jiro but the man was at Riku's side refusing to leave, while Marilyn and Saeko piled into the front of the ambulance.

"Just close the door!" Sayaka finally snapped. They didn't have time for this! Just as they were about to pull the door closed, someone else jumped in too.

"What the hell... RAY?" Sae gaped at the white-clad songstress.

"What is this?" Sayaka blinked up at the charismatic Diva, Ray. "How did you get here?"

"The police are everywhere." Ray said softly, eyes never leaving Kai's body. She had come down to the second parking basement by a side staircase and had caught all the action, just as that yakuza had shot Kai. "I slipped away from Hiro-"

"Goddamn it, Hiro." Sayaka sighed. Her boyfriend had told her before that Ray was like a ghost; she was so adept at disappearing Hiro sometimes wondered if Ray had supernatural powers. The big bodyguard was really no slouch at the job, he came with glowing recommendations and heaps of training, but Ray was just... undeniably good at doing an impression of Houdini.

"-because I was worried. I needed to find Kai." Ray sounded like a robot. It was impossible to kick the Diva out of the ambulance so Sae just shrugged and shut the doors, pounding on the seperating panel between the back of the ambulance and the front to signal for the driver to start driving.

"Kai?" Ray reached out and touched Kai's cheek. He was still warm. "Kai? Please don't scare me." The quiet pleading tone was heartbreaking. "Please?"

When Ray got no answer from Kai's silent form on one of the beds, a sob escaped her lips and she cradled Kai's body into her arms, not caring that his blood was destroying her immaculate dress. Holding him gave her little comfort though, as tears continued to fall, but letting him go was not an option as she let out an angry screech when Sayaka tried to pull Ray away. "Kai. Kai..."

Ray could barely speak. This was what dying felt like. She had thought she had felt pain before? This pain was unspeakable. Ray squeezed him closer, her crying shaking her body violently as she held on to the person she loved the most in this world. Her grieving, however, was interrupted by one of the boys suddenly sitting up.

"HOLY. CRAP." Riku breathed out, wincing. "THAT hurt like HELL! Am I dead?"

"Obviously not." Saeko let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she had been holding.

"ASAHI!" Jiro knelt down in front of Riku, afraid to touch the young man. "Don't worry, we're going to the hospital, just don't head towards the light-"

"Riku will be fine." Marilyn had her neck craned back, watching from the front of the vehicle. She let out an annoyed sigh and punched Saeko on the arm, HARD. "This was one of the riskiest plans you've EVER come up with!"

"What?" Jiro gaped at Marilyn and Saeko, feeling like he was missing something incredibly important. Unfortunately, all questions were put on hold as another member came back to life.

"Good thing the shots knocked them." Sayaka let out a sigh, also glad they had woken up in the ambulance.

"MOTHERFUCKING ITaaaaaaiii!" Kai came back to life, coughing, taking big gulps of air. Saeko reached over and smacked Kai upside the head, scowling.

"Language!"

"He's alive!" Jiro's raised his hands up in the air, feeling a bit like Dr. Frankenstein after saying that.

Ray's mouth fell open, the sudden elation from Kai being alive leaving her speechless.

"Ahhhh... why do I hurt all over?" The blonde groaned. He stopped, however, when he saw Ray's tearful face. "Ray? Why are you crying?"

Ray didn't answer and instead, touched his bloodied torso tentatively, her fingers explorative. Kai hissed in pain at the light touches, but smiled to try to reassure Ray when she drew back in fear.

"I'm fine." Kai said soothingly. In reply to that, Kai was presented with a fresh onslaught of tears and the blonde immediately sat up, holding Ray's shoulders and looking the songstress over in a panic.

"Why are you crying? Ray, are you hurt?" Kai wiped at the woman's tears, frantically looking her over, trying to see if there was something physically wrong with the Diva. In reply to that, Ray enveloped Kai in a tight hug, letting out big relieved sobs into his shoulder.

"Kai... Kai..." Ray sobbed and the shortest member of Persona held Ray, casting bewildered eyes around the cramped space.

"What happened?" Kai asked. He was a bit... confused. He had been shot at, he remembered. Then, he had blacked out a little bit.

"Shachou, did you doctor these squibs yourself?" Sayaka tsked as she poked at the bloody bullet holes in Riku's shirt. Riku writhed away from the prodding fingers, hollering in agony. "You went a little bit heavy on the explosives. Look at his shirt! These don't look anything like bullet holes, they're more like shotgun wounds!"

Saeko scoffed. "How else would I get them to play dead?"

"You could've killed them!" Sayaka accused.

"Could've, would've." Saeko shrugged and smirked. "Didn't, though, right?"

"Is Kuu alright?" Sae was kneeling down so she was level with Kuu's face. There was only space for two small stretchers in the ambulance so Riku and Kuu had shared one when their bodyguards had unceremoniously dumped them in, so Riku was sitting on top of Kuu at the moment.

"Get off him for a second?" Sae motioned for Riku to move off the boy and then started poking Kuu's butt. The touch sent Kuu giggling and sucking on his thumb happily.

"Oooookay." Sae frowned. She smacked Kuu lightly on the cheek a few times, finally getting the boy to open his eyes.

"I was having such a nice dream." Kuu got up, yawning and stretching. Then he winced as he felt the pain. "Yaaaaahhhh... what the hellllll. Why does my whole body hurt?"

"What the hell happened?" Kai demanded to know, still holding a crying Ray in his arms. The songstress had moved up into Kai's stretcher and had her arms wrapped around his neck.

"I guess we should come clean." Sayaka exchanged glances with Sae. "Sae and I actually work for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, we're not usually bodyguards. When shachou knew that you three were in some trouble-"

"You mean, two. I was never in trouble." Kuu corrected smugly.

"Hey, didn't you get shot at, too?" Sae poked at one of the bloody holes in Kuu's shirt and the young man winced, tears of pain rising up at the corners of his eyes as he screeched in agony while Sae laughed and poked at the tender flesh.

"Well, as I was saying," Sayaka ignored Sae and Kuu's exchange. "We're police, Special Assault Team, to be exact. But we were tapped to help the organized crime unit investigate the Yakuza's movements at TV Tohto. Seems that the Ushijima family's leader is obsessed with show business and had made friends with a certain entertainment reporter who had good connections to TV Tohto, so was always there. That reporter had gotten wind of something from hanging around Ushijima all the time and had started investigating the family's going-on's. He disappeared a while ago... we don't expect to find him."

"Sayaka almost messed up on one of her assignments at the beginning of our placement at TV Tohto." Sae laughed. "It was good we got your case. Saeko-shachou is friends with our team leader, Noro Kayo, and insisted on female bodyguards. You kids actually saved Sayaka from being sacked since we were the only girls available for this assignment."

"So we were assigned to you three and we had to figure out why exactly they were after you three and figure out a way to stop Ushijima since our sources tell us he'd told his right-hand man to stop at nothing to recover something for him and to kill the people who took it." Sayaka's speech was sobering.

"So does the police all know about...?" Riku trailed off, looking at Sayaka pointedly, afraid to say it aloud since Ray was there.

"No. Saeko drove a hard bargain with us. THAT information about you three is need to know basis, only. Just rest assured that your involvement in this ends here and there will be no mentions of you boys, nor the girls that were involved." Sayaka reassured. The boys breathed out a sigh of relief. Their careers and their idol-image was really important to them.

"Well... what now? Are we going to the hospital?" Kuu winced, feeling really sore.

"Nope." The lilting voice of their ambulance driver alerted them to the fact that there was a stranger in the car and she had been listening in on them. "You'll be driven home. Persona will be 'severely injured' so we have leverage to question the people we will be arresting. The three of you will be revealed to have been working with the police in investigating the entertainment industry's relationship with the Ushijima family. With the three of you 'severely injured', that at least will give us enough to really throw the book at them. We have politicians, law-makers, businesses, and one or two US army personnel also involved in this weapons-smuggling scheme. It will be the biggest bust of the century."

"But we're not really hurt." Kuu pointed out intelligently. "You can't just tell a lie."

They could see the ambulance driver smile in the rearview mirror. It was not a very nice smile and seemed slightly condescending. "You are correct. But, if the bad guys can use underhanded means, we'll fight fire with fire."

"Alright..." Kai sat there, trying to process all of this. It was a bit too much, really. All the secrecy, the different identities... "Well... who the hell are you? You're not really an ambulance driver, are you?"

The boys, plus Jiro and Ray looking at the very knowledgable ambulance driver with suspicion.

"This person," Sae flicked Kai's chest, causing the blonde to let out a yelp of pain and Ray to glare at the tall bodyguard, "is the person behind this whole plan. She's our Superintendant Supervisor, Yokoyama Yui. The youngest one in the history of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police force. She's a genius!"

"Oh..." Kai rubbed his chest, still wincing.

"She's keeping you boys safe." Saeko turned from her seat to glare at her boys. "Show you're thankful!"

The three boys immediately bowed and thanked the woman at the wheel.

"So..." The gears in Riku's brain was slowly turning. "Was that snake-guy in on this?"

Yui raised a finger to her lips in a 'hush' gesture. Kuroda had come to them when Hinata had gotten kidnapped, willing to give names as long as they protected the girls he had been charged to kill, even giving Sayaka and Sae a half-list of police officers on the take, in good faith. He had promised the other half after everything was finished. "All I can say is he shot you three and you're still alive. What do you think?"

Kuu had been listening closely to this and now smiled, pleased. Kuro-nyan would never hurt her! He was a prince!

"You kids are going home and lying low for a while. Persona is officially disbanded." Saeko said firmly. "You boys are on indefinite leave. No more secrets."

"No more Kai?" Ray blinked, clinging on to Kai, unsure of what that meant for the two's relationship.

"Let go, Ray." Kai commanded gently, trying to dislodge the tall songstress now that she had stopped crying.

"Yada." Ray kept a tight grip on Kai.

"Go back. Hiro's probably worried sick about you." Kai managed to grab Ray's hands and pushed them away from him. "Could we drop her off somewhere?"

"No, I wanna go wherever you're going." Ray said fervently. For some reason, she was deathly afraid this was the last time she'd see Kai. "Don't force me to leave you, Kai, please. I love you."

"No." Kai shook his head angrily, feeling frustrated by her words. "You can't. You don't even know me."

"I know enough about you to know that you feel the same way about me." Ray said firmly. "You try to hide it, but I know. Look me in the eye and say you don't at least like me a little."

Kai was still holding Ray's hands and he realized he was shaking slightly. Shaking because what she said could be true. Being with Ray wasn't as comfortable or as easy as being with Atsuko. That was a fact. Atsuko was a balm on his soul. But being with Ray felt like... Kai felt like he was soaring, falling, tumbling without a safety net. It absolutely terrified him, how he felt. And the silent weight of the eyes of his friends, watching him, made him feel like a bug under a magnifying glass.

"You can't." Kai tried again, weakly. He pushed her hands away, determined to kill this once and for all. Ray would be better off without Kai. Reaching up to his head, he heard the gasps of his friends as he took out the first bobbypin.

"He's gonna do it!" Jiro gasped loudly. Kai worked his fingers through his hair, taking out the pins that kept his wig in place. When the last pin was gone, he pulled off his wig, Nami's long, dark hair tumbling down. Scrubbing at her face with the sleeve of her jacket, Nami looked up at Ray grimly.

"This is why you can't love me. I'm a woman." Nami sat there stiffly on the stretcher, ready for rejection and outrage. But Nami was stunned when Ray smiled at Nami, the same way she always smiled at Kai. Nami also didn't expect the songstress to cup her face gently with both hands and brush her thumb against Nami's cheek the way she did.

"So? Man or woman, you're my Kai." Ray said firmly, wondering if this was why Kai had been resisting her all this time. This was it? Then Ray could've just made it so much easier by telling Nami that Ray had known about her all this time! Maybe everything could've been so much easier!

Pushing away those frustrating thoughts, Ray leaned forward and captured Nami's lips in a sweet kiss, thrilling at the touch, even though Nami to just passively sat there, stunned and unmoving like all the other times Ray had kissed Kai, her eyes the size of saucers.

Ray was pleasantly surprised, however, when she felt Nami pull her close after a second and squealed in pleasure when Nami deepened the kiss, kissing her back fervently and passionately. It felt like... fireworks exploding all around her. Ray was deaf and dumb to the world around her and kissed back hungrily, wondering how this could feel SO GOOD. It was paradise and if Ray could stay here forever worshipping Nami's lips, it still wouldn't be enough. Ray was unconsciously pushing Nami backwards, until they both tumbled onto the stretcher so Ray was on top of Kai, still kissing him hungrily. Only when Marilyn cleared her throat loudly and uttered a scandalous 'GIRLS!' did the two stop.

"Not an 'L', huh?" Riku smirked down at Nami, who had her hands clinging possessively to Ray's waist.

"Had you pegged from day ONE." Kuu was also grinning smugly.

"Shaddup." Nami growled as she struggled to sit up, pulling Ray up with her so they were both sitting instead of lying on the stretcher with Ray on top of Nami. With the boys, really, there never really was a dull day.

As everyone in the ambulance, excluding Yokoyama Yui made kissy noises and teased a red-faced Nami, Ray held on to Nami's hand and beamed at the smaller woman. It took Nami several seconds to notice and when she did, a tiny smile finally cracked the scowl on Nami's face.

"What?"

"Does this mean you like me?"

Nami's face was pretty red already but Ray was sure the small woman's face tried to go several shades darker.

"It means that you mean a lot to me." Nami muttered. It was a small enclosed space, so everybody heard what Nami said and started cat-calling, even the serious Sayaka. "So yes-shut up, Kuu-I guess that means I like you-Riku, SHUT UP."

"How much?" Ray was BASKING in the attention. Unlike Nami, who thought this was an exquisite kind of torture; this was like heaven to Ray.

Nami looked up at Ray incredulously, as if asking her if she REALLY had to answer that question. But looking at how happy Ray was and how her face just GLOWED... Nami let out a weary sigh, not able to keep her own smile off her face and decided to soldier through the teasing. "I-I-I like you a lot, Ray... I... CAN THE REST OF YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!"

* * *

endnote: And we're done this chapter! Next one is the last one! This was damn long. Saw how I changed the end of it?


	36. Chapter 36

Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 36

author's note: AND WE ARE DONE. This chapter really just wraps things up... not very satisfactorily. MWAHAHA. It's actually been sitting on my harddrive for a while, I just forgot about this for a bit and decided to read a bit from the Portal fandom for a bit. My bad. Enjoy, guys!

* * *

Ushijima had gone into hiding, apparently. Saeko had told them she had gone to see him before he left and he had just been... sad. He hadn't really ever wanted to be a Yakuza, Usshi was just really good at it and decided to go with it since there wasn't anything else he had wanted to do. Now all the other Yakuza heads wanted to find him and make him pay through his skin for his betrayal. Saeko had been worried for her ex-bandmate... but Usshi had just accepted it with a shrug. Sarukawa had completely destroyed the only thing Ushijima had ever loved and it had devastated the once talented drummer. Nothing else that could happen to him would ever compare to the loss Ushijima felt when he thought of his Animal Crush days..

He told Saeko he had seen Persona on-stage, watched them on TV and seen how the boys shone. And the Yakuza had wept, remembering how he had once been on stage, bathed in light and had been HAPPY. Saeko had watched her old friend leave, promising this would be the last she'd hear from him. She had been sad to see him go.

The president of Kamonohashi Talent Agency had also been diluged with a mass of mail from fans when Persona had left and now, postal services were just FLOODING their house with fan mail after hearing about what they had done in helping the police in uncovering a weapons-smuggling ring that ended up with several high-level politicians being arrested. Persona had become household names and were idols in every sense of the word. From a money-making point of view, it was stupid to hide their talents from the public eye. But Saeko had always watched out for the boys and right now it was best for them to not be talking to interviewers and let the management feed the press the news they were hungry for.

While Kamonohashi Talent Agency were busy worrying about and discussing the future of Persona, the three girls who had been masquerading as Persona were lying low.

"School is boring." Nami whined. Returning to a normal life meant having to return home and to school and part-time jobs. School was quite easy, as Saeko had made sure when they weren't doing idol-things, they were doing school work. With Saeko hovering around with a whip and Marilyn patiently helping them out with work they didn't understand, they found that going back to regular school was quite easy.

But by no means were things the same as before they went into the idol world. Nami was now sort of trying out dating with Ray and would quite often sneak away from school during lunch to meet up with the songstress.

Today, Nami had sneaked out to have lunch with Ray in a park and they were now sitting there behind some bushes away from prying eyes, Nami dutifully eating the lunch Ray had made for her. The food had gotten slightly better after Nami had printed out some recipes of easy things to make with detailed instructions. Ray didn't quite get the taste right and everything was a little bland... but it was better than surprisingly disgusting like Ray's other concoctions or nauseously revolting that required Nami to be holed up in the nurse's office after lunch.

"But you need to go." Ray speared an oddly coloured cauliflower and fed it to Nami, grinning when the girl chomped down on it. Even though the food had gotten a BIT better, Nami still got some nasty surprises some times and she made a face as an explosion of bitterness coated her mouth. Nami tried to smooth her expression down but Ray noticed and frowned.

"Is something wrong?"

"Just... it's..." Nami gulped the horrible tasting cauliflower down and lied through her teeth. "Delicious."

"Oh! I'll make more!" Ray promised, missing the look of terror on Nami's face.

"You know, next week if you have time for lunch, I'll make lunch." Nami tried another approach with this, learning to side-step saying really hurtful things. And despite how bad the food was some times, Nami never discouraged Ray from cooking because Ray really did put her heart into it for Nami... and that made the smaller woman quite happy.

"Would you?" Ray put down the bento and chopsticks she had to thread her fingers in Nami's. Usually, public displays of affection were a big no. For Ray it was because she was still the number one FEMALE artist in Japan (Ray insisted that Persona counted as a group so Ray was still number one) and knew that Nami really cared for Ray's career though Ray really couldn't give a rat's ass who knew. It was also because Nami wasn't into PDAs at all. Hand-holding, however, was acceptable.

"Yeah." Nami grinned, squeezing Ray's hand. It had been hard to accept that Ray really cared about her but now she was getting used to the concept, liking the fact that Ray messaged her all the time, called her all the time, wanted to see her all the time and told Nami she loved her all the time. Nami wasn't quite there yet, but she found that she did care about Ray a lot, too.

And Nami really, really liked how Ray's hand fit so perfectly in her own.

They had only been really seeing each other for a couple of weeks, but Nami had to admit she had fallen for the tall songstress a little bit, charmed by her sincerity and this kinder Ray Nami had always known was there, hiding behind the persona of Ray the Diva. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, though, as both had issues they had to work on, especially Nami. Sometimes, Nami was worried that Ray liked the BOY named Kai. Some times Nami worried about that quite a lot, actually. It was a legitimate worry when Ray seemed rather odd whenever Nami would wear her blonde wig and don her Kai disguise to go on really public dates with Ray where they might be recognized. It got to the point where Nami actually confronted Ray about it.

The songstress had honestly told Nami that her problem was that now that she'd been with Nami so long, she really preferred Nami in her real identity. Ray actually didn't like going out with 'Kai' because she'd gotten it into her head that now that Ray officially knew about Kai's real identity, she stubbornly wanted to hang out with the real Nami. To the Diva, it felt like Nami was ashamed to be with Ray in her real identity and Ray liked the real Nami infinitely more than the Kai persona.

That had been such an adorable answer, Nami had been struck completely speechless. And that had been the SECOND time Nami had initiated a kiss. It was a quick peck on the lips, but it wiped away the Diva's pout at that time and put a smile on her face for the rest of the week.

"So will you ever invite me to your house?" Ray brought up a subject that was a topic of contention in between them. Ray didn't want to push... but she just wanted to know if Nami was going to keep her a secret and not tell her parents. Which was fine and all... but Ray knew that even though Nami didn't really get along with her mother and liked her away time from her family a lot more than their together time, the Kawachi family was still important to Nami.

A small blurr suddenly burst through the foliage. "YEAH! When will you bring her home?"

"AGH!" Nami screamed in shock as Miho clung to her demandingly. The little girl had followed her older sister. She had seen Nami sneaking out a few times before and this time had decided to follow her sister.

"Miho!" Ray was pleasantly surprised and allowed the young girl to jump up and barrel into her arms. "How are you?"

"I miss you!" Miho said bluntly, looking up at the beautiful songstress. "Your new CD is going to be awesome! When will you do a duet with Persona?"

"Persona's taking a break, remember?" Nami scowled at her little sister and dragged the girl away from the tall Diva. "Leave Ray alone. You're bothering her."

"It's fine." Ray held open her arms and Miho scrambled in to them again. If the little girl had a tail, she would be wagging it profusedly. "I missed Miho! Where's your older sister?"

"She's eating lunch with her boyfriendddddd..." Miho grinned, looking over at Nami. Nami was trying hard not to freak out at the mention of 'boyfriend'. Being home for a while, the oldest Kawachi girl had found out that Erena WAS dating the guy in the Judo club (Nami had done some snooping and found out his name was Yuma) and Nami was NOT cool with that.

"Nami, relax. Erena'll be fine." Ray soothed. "Come on, lets finish eating."

"FOOD!" Miho's joyful cry sent Nami on the alert and made her forget briefly about this Yuma guy. The youngest Kawachi was eyeing Ray's cooking hungrily but before she could even come close, Nami had grabbed the bento box and eaten everything in it. She would sacrifice herself to protect Miho's health and Ray's pride! Because Nami knew for sure if Miho had gotten a taste of Ray's food, regardless of it was impolite or not, Miho would spit it out in front of the creator of the meal and declare it unedible.

"AW!" Miho pouted as her sister ate down every last bite. "I'm hungry, too."

"We'll *urp* get you some... Yoshinoya." Nami promised while repeating the 'don't barf' mantra to herself. She HAD to start making lunch. Ray's lunches were just, unfortunately, not meant for human consumption! From previous experience, Nami knew that horrible abdominal pains would be setting in in around ten minutes...

"Well, look what I found." The three looked up at the newcomer and while one of them frowned, two were delighted.

"MAEDA ATSUKO!" Miho's voice was so high, it was barely audible as she looked up at Maeda in awe.

"Acchan, you made it!" Nami grinned up at her friend.

Atsuko smiled at her friend and sat down carefully on the spread out blanket, managing a small nod in Ray's direction.

"Ray."

"Maeda." Ray gave the actress a weak smile. Atsuko and Ray would never really get along on their own if it weren't for Nami, but Ray was trying. When Nami had gotten a text the day before saying Atsuko would be in the area and was on a very rare break... Nami had been hanging out with Ray at the songstress' apartment and the look on Nami's face had prompted Ray to urge Nami to invite Atsuko to their little lunch date no matter how much Ray was against it. Happy Nami was something Ray liked more than Sad Nami.

"And who's this?" Atsuko smiled warmly at the starstruck Miho. The little girl's mouth opening and closing, but no words were coming out.

"This is Miho." Nami tsked at Miho's glassy-eyed stare. "She's a big fan of yours. It'll take a little bit for her to recover, but with both you and Ray here, it'll take her a while."

Ray hugged Miho to her possessively when it seemed like Maeda wanted to talk to the young girl. Atsuko already had Nami's full attention, she can't have Miho's too!

"Didn't think you'd come!" Nami shifted over so that Atsuko could sit closer to her, unaware and too happy that Atsuko was here to notice that her girlfriend was less than happy. "What did you bring?"

"A couple of sandwiches in case people were still hungry." Atsuko brandished her canvas lunch bag and smirked when she saw the empty bento box. Nami told her everything and Atsuko knew that Ray's cooking was poisonous. She had hoped to get here before Nami started eating so the poor girl could have some edible food... but it seemed she had been too late.

"Could I have a sandwich?" Miho, at the mention of food was in front of Atsuko, salivitating. Maeda let Miho choose whichever sandwich she wanted first, immediately earning Miho's undying love and adoration.

"I love you!" Miho's eyes shone with happiness as she wolfed down her food.

'Is she trying to steal Miho, too?' Ray couldn't keep that uncharitable thought from her mind, watching Maeda rub Miho's head fondly. The songstress' eyes narrowed as Atsuko passed Nami a 'special drink she had made'.

"Special?" Nami really didn't feel like drinking the clear, greenish concoction in the bottle. She was starting to feel slightly ill and anything else would really tip her over the edge. Nami knew that she was just a very short ways away from puking everything up.

"Special." Atsuko looked at Nami pointedly. She had actually made a drink that consisted of gingerale, aloe vera, honey and a tiny bit of sea salt. It was a good alternative to the medicine Nami said she had to take after one of Ray's meals and Atsuko hoped it would help Nami with her tummy aches.

"Oh man. This is good." Nami's eyes widened in pleasure as she took a tentative sip. The drink was miraculously irradicating any weird feelings she had in her tummy! She was feeling a whole lot better! AND she was able to feel her tongue again!

"Drink slowly." Atsuko clucked her tongue in disapproval as Nami started gulping down the miraculous beverage.

"What did you make?" Ray asked relunctantly. Seeing Nami gulp down the drink with such enthusiasm made her quite jealous and Ray was determined to steal the recipe so she could make it for Nami.

"I could show you." Atsuko offered, going out on a limb. Nami was chugging her drink and choked on it, almost spraying everybody but managing to turn her head just in time.

"Can I have some?" Miho disregarded Nami's choking, almost sitting in her older sister's lap. The young girl was eager to try something that her older sister thought was delicious!

"Miho," Nami growled disapprovingly but gave her sister the bottle so she could watch Atsuko and Ray's conversation. Nami was under no such illusion that Atsuko and Ray were anything more than relunctant acquaintances. Atsuko was wary of Ray and Nami now knew Atsuko could be quite jealous of Nami's girlfriend. Meanwhile, Ray was pretty transparent about how much she disliked Atsuko. To give the Diva some credit, Ray was really trying to accept the fact that Nami was not going to drop Atsuko as a friend and Ray had grudgingly accepted Nami's insistence that Atsuko and her were just friends.

"We could have," Atsuko had to draw from her talent as an actress to force a friendly smile on her face. "A girls' night. I could show you some recipes that Nami just loves! She always tries to come over to eat!"

Ray narrowed her eyes and glanced over at her short girlfriend, who froze under that furious look. Why the hell was Atsuko acting as if she knew INTIMATELY what Nami wanted to eat? They had only had several meals together and usually they went out to a restaurant to eat! RAY WAS GOING TO *DO THINGS* TO HER LATER BECAUSE OF THIS!

"Atsuko-"

"Nami, how's your drink?" Atsuko cut off whatever her friend was saying.

"Uh." Nami blinked, caught off guard. "It's delicious."  
"How delicious?" Atsuko asked, sounding a bit like she was flirting. The actress' tone of voice went completely over Nami's head but Ray caught on to the subtle pout in Atsuko's lips and narrowed her eyes.

"Very delicious!" Nami chirped back automatically as Atsuko patted Nami's head in a fond manner. Miho sat there quietly sipping at the drink, trying not to grin at how Atsuko was manipulating her sister and Ray so transparently, yet neither noticed. Why she was doing it, Miho didn't know, but Atsuko was to be admired!

"Lets have... a girls' night. Lets find a day that we're both free." Ray gritted out. Atsuko's self-satisfied smile made Ray think that she had just fallen into a trap, but Ray didn't really care. If she could make Nami smile like she does at just a sip of Atsuko's drink, Ray would be very happy. In her mind, anything Atsuko could do, Ray had to be able to do and do it even BETTER. After Ray had ironed out a day with Atsuko and turned to busy herself with Nami, Miho shuffled over to Atsuko's side.

"Nice one." Miho grinned up at the actress.

"I don't know what you mean." Atsuko's half-smile, though, and the fact that she gave Miho a high-five told the young girl that Atsuko knew EXACTLY what she meant. Maeda Atsuko was not going to allow Nami to eat Ray's subpar food and Nami's inability to tell Ray that her food was horrible would kill her friend. So Atsuko was just going to have to break the truth to Ray and then teach the popular songstress how to cook.

* * *

"How long are you going to be depressed for?" Asahi frowned at a down and out Jiro. Long story short, he had gotten nominated for a Pulitzer, but hadn't managed to win. That had sent him down into the dumps.

"Until I get my Pulitzer and marry you." Jiro groaned.

"I told you I'm not going to marry you." Asahi rolled her eyes and continued to study. Honestly! She was letting him hang around to cheer him up and he was just being a stick in the mud!

"She's going to marry ME!" Yuko crowed from the bed. The three were in Asahi's room, Jiro refusing to leave as long as Yuko was there and Yuko was taking a day to just hang out with Asahi. Asahi had come home to this 'surprise' and had insisted that she needed to study. So instead of a date, Yuko had decided to catch up on rest in Asahi's room.

A knock on Asahi's door brought Asahi's mother and a quick end to anything Jiro would've said in retort.

"I brought you three, drinks!" Mama Wakamatsu came in with a tray of juice and cookies.

"Thanks, mama!" Asahi grinned up at her mother as Yuko scrambled out of bed to sit at Asahi's low table, thanking Mama for the snacks. Jiro perked up too, remembering Mama Wakamatsu always made her cookies from scratch.

"These are just as good as I remember to me!" Jiro took a large bite.

"These are really really good cookies!" Yuko agreed, forgetting about her rivalry with Jiro in the face of food. "Thanks, mama!"

"You can't call her mama!" Jiro sat up, upset. "You're not her daughter!"  
"I'm her daughter IN LAW." Yuko crowed, reaching for a drink.

"Are not." Asahi snapped.

"See?" Jiro smacked the table in triumph. "I'm going to marry Asahi in the future and-"

"No. That's not going to happen either." Asahi cut off her childhood friend. She was getting a headache. "Both of you, shut up. I have to study."

"Don't disturb her too much, or both of you have to leave." Mama Wakamatsu warned. She liked Asahi's suitors, but Asahi had to concentrate on school! "Just because she's made a lot of money from this Persona thing doesn't mean she can slack in school-"

"You mean NO money." Asahi scoffed. It had been fun but there hadn't really been any money from this little escapade. She didn't regret a thing, though.

"No. There is." Mama Wakamatsu started listing off things Asahi had done. "TV appearances, commercials, your singles, that 'Three Sisters' story arc you did-"

"What?" Asahi frowned. "We got nothing for that-"

"Did you check and ask your manager?" Mama Wakamatsu folded her arms and looked down at her child, shaking her head. "Or did you just assume?"

"Um..."

"Your manager had opened accounts for all of you and was depositing money in them for you." Mama Wakamatsu sighed and shook her head. Really, if Asahi had had a different manager, she would've gotten so taken advantage of! "I have them in trust."

"What?" Asahi's mouth gaped open. "How much do I have?"

Mama Wakamatsu ball-parked it from her last look at the account balance. The sheer amount of money stunned Asahi and Jiro, but Mama had gotten used to it and Yuko knew that if you were hard-working, this kind of money was easy to get.

"I should really switch over to Kamonohashi Agency if they helped you guys get that much." Yuko mused out loud. "But then Ohori-shachou would come after me."

Asahi wasn't listening as she was on her phone emailing her friends.

_Did you two know that shachou put aside A LOT of money for us?_

Nami's reply was quick. _How much?_

Asahi sent the reply and waited, meanwhile, Hinata had mailed back.

_Yes. Hinata just took a little money out and treated herself to a new dress! And Hinata saw her prince again! he said he was going away... I'm sad._

Asahi jumped a bit when she heard her phone ring.

"Hello?"

"HOW MUCH MONEY?" Nami was hyperventilaing. "You're not joking, right? Are you joking?"

"I'm not joking." Asahi shook her head, not realizing that Nami probably couldn't see her.

"That's probably more than what my ma and da make in a year, COMBINED!" Nami weezed. "This is great! How'd you find out?"

"I asked my mom-"

"MA!" Nami was no longer listening to Asahi. "MA! Did Saeko-shachou put some money aside for me?"

"Stop yelling, Nami!" Ma's voice was faraway on the phone, like she was in another room. "Yeah she did!"

"MA, HOW MUCH DO I HAVE?"

There was a click and Nami was gone. Asahi just shook her head ruefully and put her phone back on the table, going back to her work and her mother finally left the room to finish up on her chores. Looking at her homework again, she let out a weary sigh. She still had to do this work. Boo. Yuko was watching the long-haired woman and scrambled over, hugging Asahi and giving the girl a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"You can do it, Nyan-Nyan!" Yuko encouraged, her dimply smile was so adorable, it sent a burst of energy into Asahi.

"Get off." Asahi grumped, blushing, went back to her work. Yuko threw Jiro a thriumphant smile as the blonde boy glowered at Yuko. The two had been having a silent competition on who could get more approval from Asahi. Jiro had started it first by helping Asahi with a particularly difficult math problem. Then Yuko had given Asahi a backrub. Then Jiro had made Asahi laugh. And now, it was another point for Yuko for getting Asahi to relunctantly accept the kiss and blush.

"I know what you two are doing and I am so kicking the both of you out if you keep this up." Asahi declared, not looking up from her work. Sheepishly, the two combatants withdrew, silently agreeing to a cease-fire until Asahi was in a more amiable mood.

* * *

Mariko smiled at the strange lolita watching her, again. The model had been filming a commercial in Shibuya and this girl had followed her around, in the crowd of onlookers at the perimeters of the set. Of all the people following the film crew around and snapping phone pics, this girl stood out for Mariko somehow and seemed really familiar... but where had the model seen this girl before? Normally, Mariko might be a bit creeped out but this person seemed kind of familiar to her and really, the tall model had a weakness for cute young girls.

'Not that I'm like Yuko the big Gaymo.' Mariko consoled herself. Speaking of which... Mariko took out her cellphone and pressed the button that speed-dialed to Yuko.

"I don't wanna talk to you, you say discouraging things." was the first thing Yuko said to Mariko. The short-haired model can imagine the dimply-woman pouting.

"Because you need to hear them. If you are seriously out on a date with a girl, there will be consequences." Mariko warned. This was for the stupid fool's own good!

"I'm not out on a date."

"Well, that's good-" Mariko relaxed a little bit.

"We're at her house!" Yuko chirped.

Mariko slapped her hand to her face. She was going to have a heart-attack. She didn't want a scandal to hit and then have to work with someone new. Mariko liked having Yuko around!

"Who are you talking to?" The mystery lady's voice was heard in the background.

"Nyan-Nyan, Mariko's being mean to me!" Yuko whined, sounding faraway also, now.

"Yuko? YUKO! Don't you dare hang up on me-"

"Hello?" Yuko's 'Nyan-Nyan' answered the phone. "Is this Mariko?"

"Yes." Mariko sighed. She could hear Yuko in the background fighting with someone over cookies or something.

"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to cause you two to fight, Yuko just dropped by unannounced." Nyan-Nyan apologized. "I would kick her out if I could, but she has this weird idea that we're going to get married and I can't get rid of her!"

"Cold, Nyan-Nyan! You know you love meee-"

"GET AWAYYYYYY-"

Mariko just smacked one hand across her forehead as she heard screeching in the background and a third, unknown voice protesting Yuko and her Nyan-Nyan's closeness.

"Mariko," Nyan-Nyan was back on the phone. "Mariko, can you please come get her later?"

"I'm done here soon." Mariko rubbed the bridge of her nose. She felt like she was talking to this Nyan-Nyan about an unruly child. "I'll swing by, Nyan-Nyan-san and get my friend. Sorry to have troubled you."

"It's no problem. And my name's Asahi." Asahi corrected politely. She didn't need another person calling her by that ridiculous nickname.

"Well, Asahi-san, please mail me your address and I'll be there soon." Mariko said her good-byes and hung up. There wasn't much else to do besides wait as the set people tried to figure out the lighting in the next scene.

"Mariko-sama," A timid production assistant came up to her with a bottle of calpis soda. "I got you your calpis soda."

"Thank you." Mariko said graciously and twisted off the cap. Taking a large gulp, she immediately spat it all out, choking on the unbelievably salty beverage. The PA was freaking out, apologizing and not knowing why Mariko was sputtering on her drink.

"Who-" Mariko's ears caught a low, evil chuckle and her eyes shot over to the lolita that had been watching her. The cutely-dressed girl gave a jaunty wave and then skipped off.

'No... It can't be...' Mariko dabbed at her mouth with a tissue that was provided to her, pulling up a face from her bank of memories and putting it next to the girl who had spiked her drink. But the similarities were there... what the hell... Mind racing, Mariko was called back to the set and finished filming her scenes quickly. She had to get to Asahi's place, get Yuko and investigate this!

Mariko was driven to Yuko's... 'friend's place. Ringing the doorbell brought a young boy to the door.

"Riku?" Mariko blinked, surprised. Persona had been had gone missing after their very last performance on stage. It had been at least a month and Mariko missed seeing the three boys on TV all the time. Their unknowing humour and naïveté when they did interviews, or communicated with each other had been a source of amusement for Mariko.

"Uh..." The boy, at second glance, was not Riku but looked like someone who could be related to the idol. "Uh... Mariko-sama?"

"Yes." Mariko nodded, suddenly at a loss. Was she at the wrong house? "Um... is... does Asahi live here?"

"Yeah." The boy nodded, his face breaking into a bashful grin. "Um... are you Mariko-sama?"

Mariko smiled down at the boy, retreating back into her role as a celebrity.

"Yes, I am. Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine!" The boy blurted out, flushing completely red. "Come in, come in!"

The boy, introducing himself as Kouhei, lead the way up the stairs while gushing about how much he loved her most recent appearance in such-and-such magazine. Knocking once very quickly on Asahi's door while simultaneously throwing it open, Mariko was treated to a sight.

There was Asahi, laying on the floor, pinned down by Yuko. A young man with oily blonde hair was trying to pull Yuko off and the lolita that Mariko had seen before was sitting on the bed, mid-laugh. Upon seeing Mariko, she pointed at the model and let out a little screech of outrage.

"Mariko, help me!" Asahi squealed from the floor.

"It's the old woman!" The lolita on the bed was still pointing at Mariko. "What the hell is she doing here?"

Mariko took a few minutes to process the scene... then her eyes narrowed.

"Riku." Mariko growled, pinning Asahi with a look. The woman in question froze. Then, the model turned to the girl in the frilly dress on the bed. "KUU."

"Wow, you saw right through their girly veneers!" Yuko applauded enthusiastically. Her applause slowed and died, though, when Mariko pinned her with a murderous look.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON." Mariko loomed ominously over all of them, resembling a demon out of the deepest parts of hell. Kouhei promptly retreated, closing the door behind him and locking the occupants of the room with a furious Mariko. Even though Hinata was cowering in fear along with everyone else, she looked up at Mariko triumphantly.

"How did that calpis taste?"

Mariko's roar shoke the entire house.

* * *

ENDNOTE: WE ARE DONNNNNEEEE! I know it leaves a lot of things hanging but your imaginations will fill in the blanks, right? RIGHT? Maybe I'm being a bit egotistical, but I've been seeing a lot of Miichan/Mariko pairing fanfics popping up...

Thank you to all you reviewers, I'm always unbelievably happy to see these reviews though I'm really bad at replying and I apologize for that. Really, without your reviews, I would've just languished and not really pushed myself to write. So I thank all of you once again and gian from S48 for reading over my work and letting me use him as a sounding board. If you're reading this, you're alright, buddy. lol.

Til next time, guys! Same bat time, same bat channel!


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